Distribution of funds among institutions also at issue

This story in today's Nevada Appeal adds some detail that hasn't been reported elsewhere about the stalled budget negotiations. It discusses the issue of how the NSHE allocation will be distributed amongst the institutions.

There are a couple of flaws, though, in the story.

First, enrollment is not declining at UNLV; it declined in 06-07 and 07-08 but 08-09 enrollment has been up considerably. Hence the dispute over 3-year vs 1-year averages.

But the other part of the story that is significant is that the alternative to strict use of the funding formulas is not really "to put money into UNLV and CSN" but rather to make the cuts proportional so that it would be the same % for each institution -- which is what the leaders of both houses of the legislature said they wanted to do in the April 1 NSHE budget hearing.

The board of the Nevada Faculty Alliance has no position on this issue.