Proposed Budget Cuts Offer Transparency Incentive for Higher Education

With threats of 30 percent budget cuts looming large for the higher education systems of our state, universities are uniquely poised to garner substantial political leverage by proving to taxpayers that they effectively manage their current finances.

An executive order signed early in Governor Jindal’s administration called for transparency in all financial dealings in each and every agency and department in state government. Unfortunately, these LaTrac reports neglect to completely disclose the transactions of one of the state’s largest entities- public higher education.They offer simple groupings and "summary data," but no individual expenditures.

LaTrac is an exhaustive examination of the intricacies of each department’s budgets and expenditures. Why should the university systems, also funded by those same tax dollars, enjoy exemption from public scrutiny? If anything, the universities should prove to the public that they are behaving as good stewards of public money and most importantly, keeping focused on educating.

If the university systems continue to claim that they have managed their funds correctly, why would they resist publishing their ledgers in a dynamic, searchable format? The technological infrastructure is already in place. All they need is the will.

Because the university systems in Louisiana will unlikely utilize such a good faith measure willingly, the legislature should demand a system of financial transparency initiatives to accompany funding legislation. This is not to say that those in favor of this transparency would fight for it and begrudgingly fund higher education as a trade off, but instead, let this serve as an indicator of the fiscal diet higher education system should employ.

This is necessary due to the fact that universities, with LSU leading the way, consistently spend money like drunken sailors at the ports of call of Office Depot and American Airlines. When the end of the year rolls around, departments send student workers to buy copious amounts of sticky notes or ship off tenured professors to a new exotic location for “research” or a “conference.”

And why does this happen? Simply, department heads worry that if they live within their means during the school year, as they should, they will sustain budget cuts. Students seem to get lost in the midst of the taxpayer-funded plethora of file folders and jet-setting to conferences all over the world. And then they wonder why students vote down a modest $2 fee increase to keep activity accounts afloat or become outraged at the mere mention of tuition increases.

The alarming issue posed by these proposed budget cuts is not that they might happen. It is the fact that higher education in Louisiana is either unable or, most likely, unwilling to trim the fat without spoiling the meat. And despite the public awareness of these nasty spending habits, legislators continually green-light higher education expansion projects with no oversight as to their efficiency or success.

If the universities believe that the governor should tap into our “rainy day” fund to save higher education from a short-term hurdle, they need to prove that they’ve changed their ways. Spending legislation to supplement higher education should be coupled with compulsory financial transparency for all systems in the state of Louisiana to confirm their days of fiscal mismanagement are over.

After all, if they’re as honest as they say they are, they have nothing to lose… and so much money to gain.