March 30, 3018
Belleville News-Democrat
Time for SIU to shift resources to Edwardsville campus
Southern Illinois University Carbondale for decades was the star of the local higher education system, with lots of doctoral programs, 42 academic departments, a large resident student population, football and the other trappings of a “real” university.
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville was the red-headed step-child. A commuter school, then a mix of commuters and residents, but never quite gaining the lofty academic reputation of its southern parent institution.
It’s time for a re-assessment and reality check.
SIUC is in free fall: Enrollment dropped 9 percent in the fall. But the scary number was freshman enrollment, which took a nearly 20 percent hit and indicates more bad news is to come. Total enrollment was 14,554, which is down by one third from 15 years ago.
SIUC Chancellor Carlo Montemagno sees the problem and is trying to push a massive reorganization, but the organization is pushing back hard. He’s been under fire for getting his family hired and getting the university to pay for their moves to Carbondale, a scandal that is effectively depleting his authority and ability to carry out the reorganization.
The rice bowls are protected, but will SIUC be able to fix itself? Will it again be able to attract those Chicago kids down to the Shawnee Forest? Odds are not in its favor, especially as our unreliable state continues making tuition the only revenue they can control, rising so fast that students look elsewhere for a better deal.
SIUE has been on an upward trajectory, to the point that the two campuses are nearly even in enrollment. But when it comes to money? They are very uneven.
Carbondale’s total operating budget is $488 million. Edwardsville’s is $292 million. Break it down, and SIUC spends $33,541 per student compared to SIUE spending $21,172.
Inequity is also seen in the student-to-faculty ratios, with SIUC at 15 to 1 and SIUE at 17 to 1. By comparison, the University of Illinois is 20 to 1 and Mizzou is 19 to 1.
The Carbondale financial behemoth was underscored when it blew through $83 million in reserves and had to go to its younger sibling and ask to borrow $35 million. That brought out the Edwardsville faculty decrying the state funding split of 70 percent for SIUC to 30 percent for SIUE that has existed for decades, although the SIU president contended it was more like 60-40. In terms of operating budgets it is a 63-37 split.
It’s time for SIU’s Board of Trustees to face the new reality and make some changes.
Edwardsville sits in the heart of a metropolitan area with a need for workforce training and a growing innovation and entrepreneurial district. There is a major military installation nearby that draws bright young people with a strong work ethic, security clearances and continuing education needs.
Past calls to split up the SIU system were wrong because they would create duplicate, inefficient overhead. Illinois needs reorganization and consolidation at all government levels, and the better direction would be for SIU to join another state university system.
But the SIU system can reorganize internally. Rather than just the Carbondale campus looking at a reorganization, the whole system needs to be revamped. The services and dollars need to be placed where the students and the opportunity are, not where administrators hope to find them.
You can dump a whole lot of money into SIUC and hope it returns to its former glory, or you can finally fund SIUE in a fair manner and invest in a campus with a much more promising potential for growth.
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March 31, 2018
The (Springfield) State Journal-Register
Rauner, state need to move ahead on workers’ raises
Given that Illinois is beyond broke, we’re more than a little curious as to where Gov. Bruce Rauner is going to come up with the money needed to provide step increases to unionized state workers.
The Rauner administration stopped awarding step increases in June 2015 when the state’s old contract with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees expired. The union contended the old terms remained in effect until a new agreement was reached. The courts have sided with AFSCME, and the decision by the Illinois Supreme Court to not consider an appeal kicks the issue to the Illinois Labor Relations Board, which needs to figure out how the state will comply.
Rauner said last week there are savings ideas that could be implemented to generate the money needed to give the increases, but didn’t get into specifics. He did mention tapping into a $350 million budget surplus to pay down the bill backlog, but that assumes passage of ideas that have been rejected by lawmakers. He also said there are other savings that could be implemented, but that he “didn’t necessarily propose.”
Granted, the task is made more difficult because it’s unknown exactly how much money is needed to pay the increases owed to about 15,000 AFSCME members. One would hope Rauner had a contingency plan in place, given that it’s never safe to bet that the courts will rule in your favor.
The earliest this is expected to go before the Illinois Relations Board is May. That gives the governor’s office at least a month to come up with the dough. The state workers who get step increases are generally in the first seven to 10 years on the job, and have been waiting on a decision. The state needs to be ready to give them what they are owed as soon as possible.
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March 30, 2018
(Arlington Heights) Daily Herald
Return sales tax-collection overage to local agencies
Eight months ago, the new Illinois budget empowered the state to begin taking 2 percent off the top of the sales taxes it processes and returns to each community and government agency.
Through this handling fee, the state expected to amass about $5.3 million a month, or slightly under $64 million a year — enough to cover the costs the Illinois Department of Revenue says it absorbs by taking in all the sales taxes generated in Illinois each month, then remitting the money back to the cities, counties, agencies and the state.
But as Jake Griffin writes this week, in the eight months the state has collected the fee, it is now on track to outpace the $64 million.
There are several reasons for this, and there are conflicting opinions on whether the state should be charging fees at all — one government to another. What’s clear however, is that the Department of Revenue should take whatever steps necessary to return the overages to the places from whence they came.
How they do it, is up to them.
Griffin reports that the fee is generating an average of $6.2 million each month in fees for the state. If that holds up, it’ll mean $74.4 million over 12 months, or $10 million more than what the state said it needed to break even.
That $10 million won’t make or break the bank of Illinois, but in many cases, a fraction of it will mean a great deal to the communities and agencies whose budgets are a great deal smaller and who have limited means of raising money.
One reason there is more money in sales taxes is that sales are generally up in Illinois. But there’s another reason, too. One of the few ways a city can raise revenue is to hike its own sales tax. A few already have, largely in response to the new fee. This winds up with the state getting even more money in fees. The community gets more money too, along with a bad rap locally for raising taxes.
Every government agency in Illinois needs money, including the state. But $14 million in handling fees from the RTA has a much bigger effect on the RTA in terms of loss than $14 million means to the state in terms of gain. Schaumburg has paid $286,000 in fees in eight months. South Elgin has paid nearly $22,000; Lincolnshire $18,900 and Carol Stream $56,000. Many other agencies likewise are shouldering fees in the tens or hundreds of thousands.
None of this amounts to a windfall, and we aren’t suggesting the state is gorging itself on local funds. But eight months ago, the state said it would be made whole by taking 2 percent of the sales taxes owed, and that $64 million would be enough. If it is reasonable for the state to collect a handling fee, then it is also reasonable for it to take what it needs and no more.
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