Under Perry's proposal, education would receive the largest portion of the budget. Our investment in higher education will pay dividends long into the future. That type of increase in funding is greatly needed. However, signs of a slowing economy, decreasing budget surpluses and an influx of 1.4 million new state residents since Sept. 1999 have forced Perry to pull back the financial reins on higher education in his budget, said Jeremy Warren, a spokesman for Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.
Nobody thinks all the changes that are necessary for Texas colleges are going to happen overnight.
We need to take the resources we have and use them as efficiently as we can. UT President Larry Faulkner said the proposed budget might result in the delay of other necessary changes, such as more work-study programs, technology and research. To stay competitive, we'll also have to focus on compensation and benefits, and cut down some of the costs we are charged by the state. Perry patterned some of his education initiatives after recommendations from the Special Commission on 21st Century Colleges and Universities. The prison proposal comes more than one month after seven convicts escaped from a South Texas prison.