The new budget numbers are in for Iowa’s regent universities, but ISU administrators and Board of Regents members are not satisfied with the results.

Although the regent schools are receiving a $3 million increase in the 2001 budget, regent David Fisher said it is not sufficient.

“There is more money,” he said. “But there’s not the money there to accomplish the needs of the universities.”

Iowa State will receive more than $256 million dollars from the state for the fiscal year 2001 budget. While this is an increase of almost $900,000 from the 2000 budget, it is still $60 million less than Iowa State’s original total request of $317 million to the Board of Regents.

ISU President Martin Jischke said the original budget proposed by Iowa State is usually cut significantly by the time it is voted on in the Statehouse.

“We always end up asking for more money than we get,” he said. “We want to do more than the state budget will allow.”

Jischke said deciding which programs to propose and determining the request amounts takes almost a year.

“We invite suggestions from within the university, and then we discuss those and try to prioritize and decide which will have the most success,” he said.

Jischke said once the final items have been decided, the budget is proposed to the Board of Regents.

Regent Roger Lande said board members try to make sure the universities are spending their money appropriately.

“We want to make sure that we’re not just adding courses,” he said. “[The universities] need to justify the new courses or programs.”

Fisher also said the board members try to consider the university’s long-term goals.

“We have a strategic plan in place which the presidents are responsible for carrying out,” he said. “We try to focus our budget to be an integral part of the strategic plan.”

Fisher said regent members look at the budget and make a recommendation to the governor and the Legislature on how much should be appropriated to each school.

For the year 2001, the regents recommended $307 million dollars for Iowa State’s budget. While this cut the original budget by almost $10 million, it was also an increase of more than $47 million dollars from the board’s recommendation for the 2000 budget.

The amount allocated to Iowa State by the Legislature cuts the board’s recommendation by more than $50 million.

Fisher said he thinks other projects have taken priority over higher education at the Statehouse.

“There’s been a dramatic turnaround by the current administration,” he said. “I’m sure [they have] a good reason for it, but we just don’t agree with it.”

Jischke said the budget shortfall will make programming more difficult for next year, but he and other ISU administrators will try to work with it.

“We try to make sure our decisions reflect the ongoing plans for the university,” he said. “Always the No. 1 priority is to try to retain our talented people on staff.”

Jischke also said he hopes members of Iowa State’s faculty continue to suggest new ideas and programs despite the budget cuts.

“Hardly [any projects] that people would propose are unnecessary,” he said. “I hope that will always be the case, that we’ll always have lots of good ideas for improving Iowa State.”