Governor's Budget Contains Flat Funding for Ag Research and Extension

Tuesday, February 7, marked a significant benchmark in the FY 2012/13 budget process with the release of Governor Tom Corbett’s $27.14 billion budget proposal. With revenues continuing to lag behind estimates  ̶  and continuing his pledge not to raise taxes  ̶  the Governor once again had to make some very difficult fiscal decisions.

Of particular importance to Penn State, the Governor’s proposal includes a 30% cut in Penn State’s “General Support” appropriation line, which funds undergraduate education.  Temple and the University of Pittsburgh would receive 30% cuts as well. The 14 institutions within the State System of Higher Education would receive a 20% cut.

You may remember from last year’s budget process that our college agricultural research and extension line items were moved out of the Penn State appropriations bill and placed into the Agricultural College Land Scrip Fund, for uses restricted to the “Commonwealth’s land grant University for agricultural research programs and agricultural extension services.”   I am pleased to report that the Governor’s budget contains flat funding levels (from FY 2011/12 levels) for the Land Scrip Fund for FY 2012/13.  Considering the current economic realities in Pennsylvania, this is excellent news for our college!

The Governor’s budget does, however,  include some significant changes for our funding lines.  The appropriation for the Land Scrip Fund, previously found in the state’s general fund as a line item in the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA),  was transferred to the Race Horse Development Fund in the Governor’s proposal. Therefore, in the PDA budget line that reads “Transfer to Agricultural College Land Scrip Fund” you will find $0 funding. In the Pennsylvania Race Horse Development Fund you will find a “Transfer to Agricultural College Land Scrip Fund” line item amounting to $44.7 million.  The  net result of this change is that our funding source shifts from general funds to revenues generated by the Race Horse Development Fund. This shift does not impact the use of the funds, as the funds are distributed from the Race Horse Development Fund into the Land Scrip Fund, which restricts their use as noted above.

As always, the Governor’s budget is the starting point and is but one step in this process. We will continue to work closely with the administration and the legislature, as well as with our college advocates, to positively position our lines in the final budget. We are currently investigating all of the implications of the shift of our funding lines to the Race Horse Development Fund as well.

The take away message from this first step is we view the Governor’s budget as a positive starting point and will keep you posted as the process progresses!

Thank you for your continued support and efforts on behalf of the college! Please feel free to contact Mary Wirth (mfw10@psu.edu) if you have any questions regarding the budget process.