The condition of the Kansas state budget has not improved. We are now in Fiscal Year 2003 (the fiscal year begins July 1, 2002 and ends June 30, 2003) and state revenues lag $40-$50 million below estimates.
FY 2002 experienced a $700 million state deficit, which led to a 3% budget cut for KU. It would have been far worse, but courageous legislators passed a $250 million tax increase late in the session that softened the blow for education.
To address this situation, Governor Graves, in late August, announced an "allotment" process that resulted in another 1% cut for KU. The total cut now is $9.4 million, spread across KU's four campuses.
Under the strong leadership of Provost David Shulenburger and Executive Vice Chancellor Don Hagen, the university has remained true to budget cutting principles:
I want to focus on this last principle, because a very important operational concept is embedded in it--the university's responsibility to its non-faculty staff.
KU has had to eliminate 159 positions so far. One hundred fifteen of those positions were vacant, but forty-four were filled by hard working, loyal employees. Each of these jobs was eliminated to cut costs, but each person has also been assured that KU will work with them to find another position, preferably within the university.
We can do this because there are 10,000 non-faculty employees at KU, and any personnel system as large as ours has turnover. People leave KU for many reasons every day, including retirement, marriage, or a spouse's transfer. When they do leave, vacancies occur. At any one time, there are vacancies in the system.
We pledge to anyone whose job is cut that we will work with you to find another position within the university if possible. If you are a classified employee with sufficient seniority, you are guaranteed continued employment through the "bumping" mechanism of the classified employee system. Of the twenty-two classified employees whose positions have been announced to be eliminated, fifteen have already accepted other positions at KU, in state government, or elsewhere.
If you are an unclassified employee, there are no guarantees of continued employment, or employment similar to what you previously did, but KU pledges to work with you to try to find an appropriate position that matches your talents. We cannot guarantee the same salary, or the same duties that you had before, but we do pledge to try and find the right job for you. Ola Faucher of the KU Human Resources office in Lawrence, and Rick Robards of the KUMC personnel office, or their assistants, are in contact with people well before any job is eliminated.
I stress all of this because it is easy to imagine the anxiety that KU staff may have about their position. People feel they may be next. But it is important to keep things in perspective. Assume 10,000 jobs, and assume three percent might have to be eliminated. That means 97 times out of 100 your job is likely to be spared.
We all know this will be a difficult year, and we are uncertain what action the new Governor will take in January. But KU's sense of community, and our history of caring about each other, typifies the values we must hold to, if we are to survive these temporary financial crises.
It is the human connections that make KU a successful and caring institution. We need to ensure that our concern for others is reflected in our everyday working environment, and we need especially to help and assist those who are displaced from one job to another as a result of the State's funding crisis. And we can't be paralyzed by fear. Some of us may have our jobs eliminated, but if that occurs, other jobs are likely to be available.
Please feel free to contact me if you have ideas about how costs can be cut, or how we can help ensure that hard working, loyal employees have continuing opportunities to serve at our university.
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