SCHEV ANNOUNCES RECOMMENDATIONS FOR GENERAL FUND ALLOCATIONS
Based on a performance-funding model adopted by the State Council of Higher Education at its May 1999 meeting and under new guidelines recommended by the council at its meeting at Virginia Military Institute Tuesday, Virginia's institutions of higher education would receive future General Fund allocations based on a block grant approach with four major components: (1) initial assessment of base budget adequacy; (2) deregulation and accountability; (3) technical adjustments; and (4) inflationary growth.
Well before the council announced its controversial budget recommendations in Lexington, members of the General Assembly had openly criticized SCHEV's plan to revamp the state's historical budgetary process into a block grant system. The new system would eventually tie increases to the funding of institutions of higher education to the overall academic performance of their students. While this plan holds little weight with key legislators, it remains to be seen if Gov. Gilmore will support the block funding concept.
Under this plan over the next biennium, Old Dominion University would receive a base operating adjustment in 2000-2001 of $7,645,901 and in 2001-2002 of $9,792,479 for a total of $17,438,380 for the biennium.
Maintenance Reserve recommendations for Old Dominion represented only 1.4 percent of the total allocated for all institutions at $1,778,895.
The council recommended an increase of $2,641,707 for each year of the biennium in financial aid for the university. This increase is intended to ensure that at least 50 percent of student financial need is being met by grants and scholarships and 100 percent of "True Need" is met by reasonable need-based self-help.
SCHEV recommended the following Old Dominion University capital projects as "Priority One" in its "Capital Outlay Wish List":
Engineering and Computational Sciences Building -- $19,000,000 (GF);
Tri-Cities Higher Education Center -- $3,250,000 (GF), $5,570,000 (NGF);
Technology Building renovation -- $10,319,000 (GF);
Batten Arts and Letters Building renovation -- $10,807,000(GF);
Chemistry Building renovation -- $1,465,000 (GF);
Asbestos and lead paint abatement -- $4,490,000 (GF);
Land acquisition - Hampton Boulevard -- $2,000,000 (NGF);
Elkhorn Avenue property acquisition -- $408,400 (NGF);
Parking Improvements -- $1,013,600 (NGF); and
43rd Street improvements -- $903,000 (GF).
Gov. Gilmore will unveil his 2000-2002 budget in mid-December.