Quinn Cuts 6.23% from Univ of IL Allocation

Governor Quinn signed a new state budget for Fiscal Year 2011 this week that cuts spending by $1.4 billion, as the state grapples with the biggest deficit in its history.

The budget includes $69,057,200 for the University of Illinois, which is 6.23% less than what lawmakers put in their version of the budget. Quinn made cuts of similar proportions to allocations for other state universities.

U of I Associate Vice President for Planning and Budgeting Randy Kangas notes that the university has still not received 38% of the state funding it was promised for fiscal year 2010. He says they worry that they might see similar cash-flow problems in the new budget year.

"So appropriation levels are good --- cash is better", says Kangas. "So, we have additional concerns if the state has the capacity to meet the appropriation levels, and that will be a continuing concern."

Kangas says U of I officials have been working for some time on plans for dealing with less state funding.

"The provosts are working very hard", says Kangas. "We have worked through the campus level, and now they will start working through the college and department level allocations."

But he says the plans are still in flux, because of what he calls the state's "unprecedented" financial problems, and the possibility that Governor Quinn may cut even more funding later in the year.

Additional reporting by Amanda Vinicky of Illinois Public Radio