$587M stimulus share for education not to be taken as a sedative

Please read the Associated Press' article on Louisiana's share of the recently-approved economic stimulus package, in the previous post, and pay special note to all notes regarding education. Also note the voting tally by Louisiana's Congressional representatives. I'll also supply a link here (whichever you prefer):

Nola.com (Times-Picayune)
The Daily Reveille

Keep in mind that these numbers should not be taken as a tranquilizer or as set in stone. There are several scenarios and factors to keep in mind, including:

1) The state may not include this money in its budget, a possibility considering the similar stance taken by Mississippi's governor and the fact that most of La.'s Congressional contingent opposed the stimulus as it was written;

2) The consistently inconsistent nature of our country's economy and the increasing trend of government-funded bailouts;

3) The fact that the state MAY receive $587 million to alleviate educational cuts is not an assurance that it will; and

4) The fact remains that Louisiana has several educational institutions to support, and that all are facing budget cuts, and LSU A&M is certainly not guaranteed to receive anything close to the full amount. This same item should concern each individual institution who has a seat on the chopping block.

Going back to an e-mail Chancellor Michael Martin sent to the LSU community on Feb. 6, our main campus faces a maximum budget cut of about $72 million, as part of a maximum cut for the entire LSU system of $209 million. The minimum cut would still be at about $43 million for LSU A&M (coupled with the already-made cuts, mandated by the governor, at more than $10 million), which is still an enormous amount of money, and would still pose tremendous harm to the integrity of the institution.

It may not seem too difficult to just to give our campus enough money to offset all these proposed cuts, but nothing is ever simple. How often do you see decision-makers spurn the obviously correct solution? AND keep in mind there are several other campuses across the state in need of these funds as well, and each will fight aggressively to keep itself intact.

Do not feel placated by the threads of e-mails discounting the possibilities of maximum cuts. Do not be placated by the figures you see in the headlines and the titles of this post. Do not let your guards down until the situation has been completely resolved, because there are always curveballs to be thrown and plot twists to emerge.