Legislative update: a briefing for faculty and staff of the University System of Georgia, No. 6 (Feb. 17, 2010)

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
A Briefing for Faculty & Staff of the University System of Georgia No. 6, February 17, 2010
"Creating a More Educated Georgia"

USG Faces $2M in Additional Reductions to Amended Budget in Senate

Georgia's Senate Appropriations Committee voted on its Fiscal Year 2010 Amended Budget recommendations on Tuesday, adding additional net reductions of approximately $2 million over and above the recommendations made last week by the House of Representatives.
While making additional reductions of $3.8 million in formula funds for the University System of Georgia (USG) and $490,000 for Medical College of

Georgia (MCG) Health Inc., the Senate committee added back $1.7 million to the budget for the USG's special funding initiatives that the House had recommended be taken out.
Committee members also deleted the $27,000 the House had restored to the FY 2010 Amended Budget for the USG Research Consortium.
The Senate's budget writers agreed with the House on an additional budget reduction of $7.6 million related to furloughs.

The Senate also agreed with the House's decisions to restore $88,000 to the budget for the Southern Regional Education Board and reduce by $150,000 the funds the state is providing the USG to assist NCR in relocating its world headquarters to Georgia.
Senate budget writers went along with the House in transferring "start-up" funds for Georgia Gwinnett College from the lineitem special-funding-

initiatives (SFI) category to the USG's base formula funding. They went a step further, also transferring funding for North Georgia College & State University's leadership mission and Georgia College & State University's liberal-arts mission from the SFI category to formula funding.
The full Senate is scheduled to vote on the FY 2010 Amended Budget recommendations on Thursday. Q

Chancellor Proposes Regents Adopt Principles to Guide Innovation Throughout USG
Chancellor Erroll B. Davis Jr. gave an initial presentation to the Board of Regents last week on a set of guiding principles that he is asking the board to consider adopting "to both facilitate and motivate a climate of innovation throughout the University System of Georgia."
"In order to preserve its academic excellence, reputation and competitiveness, given the projections for continue economic pressures and explosive student growth, the USG must accelerate the pace of innovation in both administrative and academic areas," the chancellor said in introducing seven proposed "Principles to Guide Innovation" at the board's February meeting.
Davis laid the groundwork for this presentation in his State of the System Address in January, when he said the regents must "find a way to unleash the collective brainpower of this great System," give USG campuses direction to enable their success in this innovative work and create an environment in which USG institutions are both empowered and encouraged to experiment with new ways of accomplishing the System's mission.
The principles he developed and put before the board on Feb. 9 are prefaced with the following expectations: "The Board of Regents assumes that any proposed innovations will be of high quality and student focused. It
See "PRINCIPLES TO GUIDE INNOVAATION," Page 2 ...

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE -- February 17, 2010, Issue No. 6
Principles to Guide Innovation
Continued from Page 1... also assumes that institutions will fuel innovation through the capture of operating efficiencies and the vigorous pursuit of both incremental and diversified resources outside of normal state and student funding processes."
The principles are as follows: u Give priority to innovations that enhance and hone present institutional missions rather than expanding
missions. u Consider innovations that increase student learning, research and faculty productivity. u Investigate innovations that challenge existing student life, academics and academic support structures. u Consider innovations that reprogram existing infrastructure use. u Give priority within the limits of their mission to academic programs that meet demonstrated state need. u Utilize the collective power of the University System. u Be prepared to take measured risks in the process of innovation. The Principles document states that the University System Office will be available as a resource and will give institutional proposals for innovative practices that require policy changes an expedited review and response. Regarding accountability, the document says USG "presidents will be evaluated in part on their ability to be vigorous and innovative leaders who have engaged their entire campus communities in the process of rethinking the institution's future path in an increasingly complex world with scarce resources." The chancellor will seek feedback from the regents on the proposed principles at the March 10 board meeting. Q
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