MTSU committee says governor's budget offers minimal operating relief; capital awards fall short of deferred‑maintenance needs

Middle Tennessee State University trustees' finance and personnel committee was briefed Tuesday on the implications of Gov. Bill Lee's proposed 2026 state budget, which committee members said provides only a small operating increase for the university and leaves a large deferred‑maintenance gap.

The committee's only formal action was approving the minutes from its Nov. 12, 2024, meeting.

At the committee meeting, Alan Thomas, vice president for business and finance, summarized materials sent to campus and to the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC). Thomas said net operating appropriations for MTSU would increase by $319,100 under the governor's proposal. He said the budget document totals roughly $500 million at the state level and that the appropriation would provide about $3,200,000 to partially fund a 2.6% salary increase; Thomas said the university would need roughly an additional $2,000,000 to fully fund a 2.6% increase for all employees.

Thomas also described capital awards in the proposal. He said MTSU would receive $53,000,000 for additions and improvements to the Murphy Center, a project the budget lists with a total cost of $119,000,000. The proposal also includes $3,500,000 for capital maintenance; the board had previously requested more than $23,000,000 in capital maintenance funding. Thomas said the university's deferred maintenance is “probably a little bit over $200,000,000.”

Dr. McPhee said he was disappointed in the proposal. “I must say that, again, we are really disappointed in the governor's budget,” he said.

Thomas noted that MTSU was listed as the No. 2 project on THEC's capital outlay priority list, but the state funded other priorities instead. He described THEC's prioritized list as having 20 projects and said the state awarded funding to projects ranked 1, 3, 8, 11, 14, 15 and 19 on that list, skipping some higher-ranked items.

Committee members and staff discussed broader implications. Thomas said THEC had recommended $40,000,000 in new operating funding for higher education; the governor's proposal funded $17,000,000 for the system. He said MTSU's share of a fully funded formula would have been larger (Thomas said he could not recall the exact share, estimating roughly $2–2.5 million), and that the lower appropriation increases pressure on tuition decisions.

On scheduling, Thomas said the university will present to the Senate Education Committee the next day with sessions at 7 a.m. and 3 p.m., and that the House Finance, Ways and Means hearing had been moved to March 18 at 3 p.m. because of earlier weather cancellations. He also said THEC planned a special meeting in early March to set a binding tuition range for institutions; the commission had not been able to set that range in February because the governor's budget was released Feb. 10.

Thomas and trustees emphasized that limited state operating increases and modest capital maintenance awards will make it harder for MTSU to address deferred maintenance and to cover salary increases without additional revenue sources. Thomas said the university will continue to present the maintenance shortfall in upcoming hearings.

The committee's only recorded vote was to approve the Nov. 12, 2024, minutes. A motion to approve carried after a second and an oral “aye” vote; no roll‑call tally was provided in the meeting transcript.

The meeting concluded after the budget update.