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Appropriations panel reviews Center for Distance Education budget; directs staff to remove equity pay line
Summary
Representative Richter reviewed the Center for Distance Education budget for the Appropriations - Education and Environment Division, covering personnel changes, tuition-funded adjunct pools, an IT upgrade and a new virtual military pathways curriculum; the committee directed staff to remove a salary-equity line from the long sheet and prepare amendments and SPA language.
Representative Richter reviewed the Center for Distance Education (CDE) budget during a meeting of the Appropriations - Education and Environment Division. Committee members discussed multiple funding sources and staffing changes, directed staff to remove a salary-equity line from the long sheet for now, and asked staff to prepare amendments and the corresponding SPA language.
The budget discussion focused on personnel changes, tuition-funded pools that pay adjunct faculty, one-time IT expenditures and a new virtual military pathways curriculum. Committee members and staff repeatedly noted that some items are funded from tuition and special funds rather than the general fund, while a single new office support FTE would be paid from the general fund.
Representative Richter summarized the long sheet for CDE and described personnel items included in the proposal. The package includes one new full-time office support specialist FTE funded from the general fund and an increase of 0.2 FTE to convert an existing 0.8 position to a full-time equivalent. The committee did not fund the learning coordinator position that had been requested. Members discussed, and agreed to strike for the moment, a separate salary-equity line that appears in the House version of the long sheet.
Committee discussion also covered an adjunct faculty pool paid from tuition and special funds. Representative Richter described the adjunct pool line as $61,622,000, noting it is funded from tuition and grows with enrollment. Committee members confirmed that travel, IT equipment and supplies in several lines are funded from tuition or other special funds; the committee noted a separate IT rate increase that is charged to the general fund.
Staff described one-time funds to pay for IT equipment and specific professional fees. The transcript records a $75,000 professional-fee item tied to a student information system upgrade described as part of registration and processing improvements. Representative Richter also described a new virtual military pathways effort to develop curriculum for the “choice ready” military graduation pathway; staff said the program is being developed in partnership with the National Guard and that initial curriculum work would be funded from one-time tuition-derived funds.
Committee procedure items were set out toward the end of the discussion. The chair asked staff (Sheila) to prepare the amendments; staff noted that SPAs cannot be produced until the committee finalizes the amendments because the items are in one bill. Committee members agreed to finalize the long sheet and return SPA language that will mirror the finalized long sheet.
Less-critical administrative items raised during the meeting included a planned summary of ITD fees that an outside staff contact (Corey Mach) will prepare and give to Chairman Viggasaw. The meeting record contains no formal roll-call votes on CDE items; decisions recorded in the transcript are directions to staff and committee agreement to remove the equity pay line for now.
Ending: The committee moved on to other budget work and scheduled follow-up work on DPI and the governor’s budget; staff were directed to return finalized long-sheet language for SPA preparation.
