Higher Ed funding picture still unclear

KVTN (Reno), on this morning's Higher Ed Finance subcommittee hearing, suggests that the state legislature would impose cuts of at least 10%, if no waiver is granted from the federal stimulus requirement that the state spend at least at 2006 levels on higher education funding:

Nevada lawmakers are discussing the higher education budget and say that if the state is not granted a waiver from federal requirements for getting stimulus money they would likely cut funding for higher education by over 10%.

The Reno Gazette Journal, on the same hearing, reports that to qualify for a waiver, the state would have to spend even more than 2006 levels, because the state would have to keep higher ed funding at the same % of the overall state budget that it held last year.

legislative staff testified today that additional requirements may make the waiver more expensive than simply meeting the original requirements of the stimulus package. For the waiver, the state would have to keep its funding of education as a percentage of its overall spending the same.

So it seems like the fight is no longer about whether we get the waiver or not, because either way the state would have to restore Higher Ed funding to 2006 level or higher. But thats still a cut of more than 10%.