Flagship Fund
Futrell seeks $28 million to boost LSU
State Rep. Mike Futrell is confident the Legislature will recognize LSU as the state's flagship university and create a trust fund to help boost the school to national prominence.
He's less confident that he can convince his colleagues to pump $28 million from excess oil and gas revenues into that trust fund.
The funding "is where the rubber meets the road," Futrell, R-Baton Rouge, said last week.
The Legislature already recognized LSU as the state's flagship university in 1998 when it approved renaming the University of Louisiana system, said Joseph Savoie, the state's higher education commissioner.
"That's not an issue," Savoie said.
He agreed that Futrell stands a slim chance persuading his colleagues from across the state to dedicate upwards of $28 million just for LSU.
"I'm not disagreeing with the idea," Savoie said, but "he will have a challenge getting a fund created for a specific university."
"Practically speaking, it may get more support if it was available to more schools," Savoie said.
The state already has an academic enhancement trust fund -- created by an oil and gas lawsuit settlement with the federal government -- that provides extra financing for research and academic efforts.
That fund paid out about $23 million last year, most of it to LSU, Savoie said. In fact, LSU has received about half the money since the fund was founded, he said.
"LSU is the dominant player," Savoie.
The Flagship Fund would supplement what the other fund provides the state, Futrell said Friday.
"Getting the money into the fund will be the fight. ... But it's a fight that needs to be fought," Futrell said.
"We are down at the bottom of funding among the southern universities," he said.
In a state with 14 universities, attitudes toward the schools can be "very parochial," Futrell said. "But this won't touch any of theirs."
Advocates for Southern University and Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond have asked what their schools would get out of this bill, Futrell said.
"At least one university should be nationally prominent," he said.
High oil and gas prices are putting more money into state coffers than were planned for in the current budget year.
During a special legislative session last month, the Legislature tinkered with an income cap to allow some of that excess oil-and-gas money to flow into the general fund rather than into the state's "rainy day" savings fund.
The bill sent some of that new revenue into the trust fund this year, and "hopefully we can add to it every year," he said.
Futrell realizes other legislators might have plans for that extra revenue.
"Everyone has their own priorities," he said.
Futrell's House Bill 1529 creates the Flagship Fund, and his House Bill 1601 sets aside oil and gas revenues for the fund. He filed them just before Tuesday's deadline to submit bills for this session.
Interest income earned by the trust fund would finance endowed professorships, research and other academic improvements, Futrell said.
Louisiana needs a flagship university to perform the kind of research that helped the University of Texas boost Austin to prominence as a high-tech center, he said.
A well-funded flagship university will bring economic development and jobs to the state, not just Baton Rouge, Futrell said.
"They've been saying for years that we should invest in a flagship university," he said. "There's been a lot of lip service but nobody's done anything about it.
"LSU is the closest, by far, to reaching the level."
Futrell said LSU has the highest graduation rates, academic standards and the most research money of all the state's universities.
"There is no question the flagship initiative would assist the state," LSU System President William Jenkins said.
A flagship school helps coordinate research and academic programs with sister schools -- both public and private -- to avoid duplication and ease the sharing of information "so everyone moves ahead," Jenkins said.
Jenkins said he is aware of Futrell's bills but has yet to analyze them.
The state does have a budget problem that's saddling the higher education system with $40 million in mandatory spending on raises, insurance and other costs, Jenkins said.
The universities have no choice but to spend that money, so Jenkins said, the schools have another $40 million to stave off making cuts.
The money Futrell wants would be better spent on helping fill that hole, Jenkins said.
The rest of the story
By CHRIS FRINK
cfrink@theadvocate.com
Capitol news bureauChancellor O’Keefe doesn’t anticipate big changes. He says that Savoie is a strong advocate of LSU being the flagship institution, but that nothing big is going to be unveiled. Senator Buckingham said that admission requirements and formula funding will be on Savoie’s agenda, so those could be affected.
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they got more out of the name change than anyone. Now they want to turn their name change into money. Isn't this what they said UL would try to do?
Originally Posted by NewsCopy
