Legislative update: a briefing for faculty and staff of the University System of Georgia, No. 5 (Feb. 7, 2005)

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
A Briefing for Faculty & Staff of the University System of Georgia No. 5, February 7, 2005
"Creating a More Educated Georgia"

Board of Regents Appointments

Chancellor's Address New Appointment Applauds Governor

Reappointed

Chancellor Thomas C. Meredith used his annual State of the System address delivered at the Board of Regents' regular monthly meeting on Feb. 2 to express gratitude to Gov. Sonny Perdue for his strong support of public higher education funding.

Richard L. Tucker

Wandy Yancey-Rodwell Donald M. Leebern, Jr.

"We deeply ap-

Richard Tucker Joins BOR; Regents Leebern, Rodwell Reappointed

preciate the fact that Gov. Perdue has recommended a FY06 increase of 8.3 percent for the University System," he said. "This means that if approved by the General Assembly, our formula will be fully funded, which will help us address our enrollment growth."
Among the University System's many achievements of the past year cited in Meredith's address was the Board of Regents' ability to maintain Georgia's historic position as a low tuition state.
Although the state's economy is on the

Gov. Sonny Perdue recently announced the appointment of Richard L. Tucker to the Board of Regents. In addition to Tucker's appointment, Gov. Perdue also reappointed Donald M. Leebern Jr. (member at large) and Wanda Yancey Rodwell (4th Congressional District) to serve additional terms on the Board.
Tucker, a former member of the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority and the Governor's Development Council, is the principal and managing

See "Chancellor," Page 2 ... partner of Arlington Capital LLC, a mezza-

nine lending fund.
He recently served as president and chief executive officer of the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce and is on the board of directors of the Gwinnett Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Gwinnett Foundation, the Council for Quality Growth, Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful, and the Atlanta Athletic Club.
Georgia Trend magazine has recognized Tucker as one of its "100 Most Influential Georgians" for the past four years, and The Atlanta Journal Constitution named him one of the most influential Gwinnett

leaders in 2002.
Tucker is the advisory board chairman of the Regional Business Coalition and heads the Citizens Project Selection Committee of the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners.
Tucker, who received his undergraduate degree in business administration from the University of Georgia, replaces Regent Glenn S. White, whose term as 7th District representative to the Board of Regents had expired.
This is Leebern's second reappointment to the board. He first was appointed by Gov.
See "Regents," Page 2 ...

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE -- February 7, 2005, Issue No. 5

Regents
Continued from Page 1... Zell Miller in 1991. Leebern is chairman of Georgia Crown, Alabama Crown, and Tennessee Crown Distributing Companies, wholesalers and importers of liquor, beer, wine and specialty products.
He is chair of the board of directors of MCG Health Inc., the non-profit corporation that operates the Medical College of Georgia Hospital and Clinics.
His other board service has included the Hughston Sports Medicine Founddation, the UGA Athletic Association, the Georgia Research Alliance, the Columbus State University Foundation

and Columbus Steeplechase.
Leebern served as board chair from 1994 to 1995 and currently chairs the Strategic Planning Committee, which includes all regents. He studied business administration at UGA and played varsity football in 1957, 1958, and 1959.
Rodwell was appointed by Gov. Roy Barnes in 2002 to fill an unexpired term. This is her second term on the board.
A native of Atlanta, Rodwell is general manager of corporate communications at Delta Air Lines. Before joining Delta in 2000, she was vice president of public affairs/executive director of the

Henry W. Grady Foundation for the Grady Health System.
Rodwell began her career as a journalist, writing award-winning news reports for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, before transitioning into corporate communications at Cox Enterprises, the newspaper's parent company.
The Spelman College graduate serves as chair of the Calvin A. Rodwell Foundation and DBR Enterprises, Inc., and is a member of numerous civic organizations, including the Economic Development Authority of DeKalb County as well as numerous professional organizations.

Chancellor
Continued from Page 1...
upswing and the Governor's recommendations are very encouraging, the chancellor urged prudence on the part of University System officials. "Our challenge is to continue to explore ways to identify new sources of revenue and to be more efficient in the use of our resources," he said. "We must be prepared for an era of tighter state budgets."
A recent report by the State Higher Education Officers (SHEEO) predicts tighter state budgets will be a fact of life for some time as a result of key factors such as the growth of Medicaid, prison costs, the aging of the population, rising

healthcare costs for

Introducing Senator Brian Kemp

state employees and a

Sen. Brian Kemp of Athens has been named chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Higher Education. He also is chair of the Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee, vice chair of the Higher

Education Committee, and secretary of the Agriculture & Consumer Affairs Committee.
Kemp, now in his second term in office, is one of two legislators serving on the Governor's Education Finance Task Force, charged with examining how state education funding is dispersed in K-12 and recommending any needed changes.
Outside of the legis-

lature, Kemp is president of Kemp Development, an Athens business specializing in commercial and residential construction, and co-owner of Specialty Stone Supply.
He is a lifelong resident of Athens and a product of its public schools and the University of Georgia.
An interview with Rep. Bob Smith will appear in a future issue.

persistent and appropriate concern with K-12 education.
"With this in mind, it is imperative we not lose our focus on maintaining quality as a matter of fact, enhancing quality for our core areas of instruction and research," the chancellor said. "We must be very innovative in how we use our resources to continue to deliver quality academic programs."

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LEGISLATIVE UPDATE -- February 7, 2005, Issue No. 5

Q & A With Sen. Kemp

What are your goals as chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Higher Education?
I think that the biggest goal I have as chair of the committee is to make sure I understand the needs of all of higher education in Georgia. And I think that the hardest thing that we're going to have to deal with is trying to balance those needs as we move forward with the budget process.
In your opinion, what are the most important highereducation issues to deal with in the legislature?
The pay raise is a big issue with employees System-wide, but there's also the issue of making sure that we continue full formula funding. Hopefully, as [the economy improves], we'll be able to work towards restoring some of the reductions we've seen over the last couple of years.
We've got to balance all of that with the capital needs building for [future] growth in higher education and keeping the repair and maintenance of our older buildings on track.
On the policy side, the biggest priority I have is protecting the quality of higher education in Georgia. We have made tremendous strides and we have great assets in higher education. Preserving the quality and protecting the morale of the institutions and the

people that work at them is very important.
We've been through some really tough times, and everybody has had to tighten their belts and make tough choices. Now, we're starting to move out of [the recession], and we need to start putting back some of those resources that are going to help morale and help us continue to improve [in terms of how we compare to other states].
I think higher education has to be one of the state's first priorities as the economy improves.
The Governor has issued a strong set of recommendations for the FY '06 Budget, including full formula funding, merit salary increases and capital outlay funds. How do you think the Senate will react to these recommendations?
I think overall the Senate will look very favorably on the Governor's recommendations for higher education. I really have not heard a lot of complaints some, but not a whole lot.
Overall, everybody's excited about the things the Governor has done, especially the full funding formula. We certainly applaud him for that. There's no question that was the No. 1 priority for higher education in Georgia.
The salary increase, while I wish it could be bigger, when you look at other states around us,

many of them got no increases in the last three years, so I'm glad to see us moving in that direction.
I think there's some great things the Governor did for retirement benefits for Cooperative Extension. That has an effect throughout the whole state, and it's something that we've been working on for several years, so I was excited about that.
I think we've been doing a good job of putting some money in the budget for capital projects and trying to address future growth needs.
Do you feel the University System of Georgia is providing a good return on the investment the state has made in it?
I don't think there's any question. It's a great return on our investment.
I think some legislators may not realize that as much as the legislators who have [USG] institutions in their districts. I can see first hand what the University of Georgia and what our technical colleges are doing in the state. We've got a great asset in the University System.
Are there any areas you feel need attention from the University System?
Two things occur to me, and maybe it's not the University System but the legislature that needs to pay more attention to them.

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First, we've going to be experiencing significant increases in growth in the coming years, and we've got to make sure we're preparing for that growth [by looking at the System's] infrastructure. That's going to be critical to our state as we move forward.
I think another thing we need to address is tuition. There's been a lot of talk about it, and I think now that the regents are looking at a long-term tuition plan instead of just winging it year by year.
We need to have a set plan for where we're going in Georgia. I'm hoping we can come up with [a plan for tuition increases] that's reasonable but steady, so that people can plan for the future. When you have several years where tuition remains steady and then you increase it 10 percent, that's hard on folks. If you kind of know where you're going, and you have a plan, it makes it easier for people to plan ahead.
I don't mean to imply that it's just the Board of Regents that needs this plan. Everyone needs to buy in on it -- the Governor, the legislature, the institutions. It needs to be a partnership we can all support. Tuition just is not something that we need to play politics with we need to base these decisions on good policy.