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Regents approve FY25–26 capital outlay recommendation, swap requested for Louisiana Tech priorities
Summary
The Board approved the Regents’ FY25–26 capital outlay recommendation, which includes 171 proposed projects; staff noted a requested campus-level priority swap at Louisiana Tech and highlighted the funding constraints that leave many shovel-ready projects unfunded.
The Board of Regents voted to approve the FY25–26 capital outlay budget recommendation after staff outlined project counts, funding needs and a late request by a campus to reorder priorities.
Chris Herring, associate commissioner for facilities planning and emergency management, said the office received 171 project requests for the cycle and emphasized that the top section of the recommendation covers projects that are already under construction and will require approximately $130 million next fiscal year to complete.
Herring described a request from Louisiana Tech to swap two campus priorities — moving the Forestry and Wood Products facility ahead of Madison Hall — explaining the swap was asked to preserve private donor timing and to align specialty-material construction with seasonal constraints. "We're essentially moving their first priority in the place of the second priority and vice versa," Herring said.
Board members pressed staff about how the Regents and the legislature prioritize projects and noted that some projects that were added during the session did not receive lines of credit because of capacity constraints. Members also questioned the status of specific projects, including a Southern Shreveport gym project that staff described as shovel-ready but currently on hold pending funding capacity.
The board discussed deferred maintenance concerns and asked staff to consider requiring information from campuses about anticipated annual maintenance costs for new construction so that new projects do not exacerbate deferred-maintenance backlogs.
A motion to approve the FY25–26 capital outlay recommendation was made and the board voted to adopt the recommendation.
What’s next: staff said they will continue January conversations with systems to refine cash-flow timing and project needs and will run updated priority reviews in the months before the legislative session.
