Editor’s note: This is the second of a three part series on higher education funding. Part 2 deals with the administrator’s views on funding.

Tuesday, Gov. James Thompson told administrators they have to convince the Illinois General Assembly to approve a tax increase, which is needed for higher education funding.

Board of Regents Chancellor Roderick Groves said he was not surprised at Thompson’s address to the IBHE and the Illinois State Board of Education. However, Groves said he believes Thompson is still committed to higher education.

“There is a significant need for more spending at all levels of the education system, but there is no guarantee that additional revenue will be available for any increase,” Thompson said.

NIU President John LaTourette said the most important case to sell to the legislature is NIU’s overall needs, but “on campus, our most important need is salary increases.”

He said he hoped NIU could convince the General Assembly to approve the appropriations, and also that the political situation in the Assembly was favorable for a tax increase, if necessary. He said there was a greater prospect for a tax increase if the members of the House ran unopposed, or with weak opposition “because this is an election year.”

Illinois State University President Lloyd Watkins said the number one funding priority at ISU is also salary increases. He said the other priorities included expanding faculty and staff to deal with increased enrollment and expanding physical resources, such as library and computer facilities.

Groves said salary increases are also the most important priority to the Regents. “We need first and foremost to pay our people well, and not just because they didn’t get a salary increase last year. We’re placing a bigger burden on faculty and staff than they deserve,” Groves said.

The IBHE approved a salary increase recommendation of 10 percent for FY 1989. However, LaTourette said the increase actually amounts to only about 5 percent increase over a two-year-period. NIU faculty and staff members did not receive any salary increases for FY88.

LaTourette said enrollment might be reduced, tuition might be raised or educational quality might suffer without a 12.6 percent general revenue increase for NIU. The recommended increase was approved Jan. 5 by the Illinois Board of Higher Education for fiscal year 1989.

Eddie Williams, NIU vice president of finance and planning, said the IBHE determined its recommendations based on the state getting additional revenues from a tax increase.

Thompson said he will not recommend a tax increase in his budget proposal for FY89 as he did in FY88.

If a tax increase is not approved by the General Assembly, the IBHE will allocate the governor’s proposed budget which calls for no increase in higher education funding, Ross Hodel, IBHE deputy director of public affairs, said.

Watkins said if the tax increase fails, “It would be a clear signal to (the people in) Illinois that Illinois is not making a serious committment to education.”

LaTourette said Illinois is the seventh lowest state in terms of a resident tax burden, with only a 2.5 percent flat-rate tax. The Illinois tax support for higher education increased by only 1 percent in a two year period, he said. Other mid-western states increased more over the same period, he said.

In addition, tax support over a ten year period increased by only 10 percent, he said. Illinois ranked ninth in the United States per capita income, while ranking 42nd per capita for higher education expenditures.

LaTourette said critics are asking the universities to do more public service with less money. “Public universities have been asked to do a great deal more with the money they have, such as improving undergraduate education, improving the economic development of the state and improving minority recruitment and retention, ” LaTourette said.

“On the one hand, Illinois has considerable capacity to provide support for public services, but one could say in terms of public service expenditures, Illinois ranks in the bottom 20 percent,” LaTourette said.

Friday: The Illinois politician’s role in higher education funding.