Letter from President Broderick on the Budget

Dear Colleague:

Yesterday afternoon the Virginia House of Delegates and the Senate of Virginia released their committee-agreed upon amendments to the FY21-FY22 budget.

I'm extremely pleased to let you know that Old Dominion University fared quite well in each version. Both bodies supported our School of Public Health initiative with Norfolk State University, both maintained the full restoration of base E&G funding ($10 million in FY21 and $12 million in FY22), as well as restoration of $5.3 million for financial aid in FY22. Our capital efforts remain on track (construction of the $77 million new Health Sciences Building and planning for the $128 million new Biology Building) as do other initiatives important to ODU such as the Online Virginia Network and the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative.

There are a few slight differences in the two that could have an impact to ODU. First of all, the Senate provides an additional $4.5 million for base funding to support access and affordability in FY22. We are actively working with the conferees to help ensure ODU realizes these additional funds. The House budget provides $2.1 million in FY21 for COVID testing. Both budgets provide for salary increases in FY22 but go about it in significantly different ways.

The conferees will now gather over the next week or so to determine a final conference report that will be voted on by both bodies and sent to the Governor for action. We thank Governor Ralph Northam and the legislature for their continued support of Old Dominion University.

Rest assured Annie Gibson and I will continue to advocate and monitor all paths until final determinations are made.

Sincerely,

John R. Broderick
President