Now, with the state grappling with deep budget problems, Gov. Bobby Jindal is proposing to strip financing from the fund that only months ago he described as among his top priorities.
At Jindal’s urging, lawmakers set up the Workforce and Innovation for a Stronger Economy Fund to link higher education money directly to projected workforce demand. They steered a mix of tax dollars, construction funding and other money to the fund in this year’s budget.
College leaders praised the effort, saying it was one of the state’s most significant higher education investments in years, a rare infusion of cash for campuses that had seen their state financing cut by hundreds of millions since 2008. Schools had to work with private businesses to get a funding match of at least 20 percent.
“We view the WISE Fund as one of the most forward-thinking public policy efforts that this state has seen in a long time,” said Monty Sullivan, president of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System.
But with Louisiana facing a $1.6 billion budget shortfall in the 2015-16 fiscal year that begins July 1, Jindal is considering cuts of $300 million to $400 million to public colleges. And WISE is on the chopping block.
The budget proposal being talked about by the Jindal administration “guts WISE completely,” said LSU System President F. King Alexander. “We’re trying to hang onto it.”
