Gov. Rod Blagojevich will outline the first part of the state budget for the new fiscal year today, and NIU President John Peters said he is hoping for the best for NIU.

Blagojevich gave a brief preview of his speech on Sunday and released some budget details, but he declined to unveil others, including how much money he would spend on schools.

“The best that we can expect is that he follows the recommendations of the Illinois Board of Higher Education,” Peters said.

On Feb. 3, the IBHE recommended a $101 million budget for NIU’s Fiscal Year 2005, which is the same budget as FY04. Although NIU recommended about $120 to fulfill its needs for the new fiscal year, the IBHE upheld level funding for all state public universities.

Kevin O’Kelly, the IBHE student board member, said the IBHE made the decision by considering the overall state budget, which is in a deficit of $1.5 million to $2 million. He said the IBHE hopes that by not asking for more money from the state, final university budget cuts will be minimal.

“We don’t want to ask for money that we aren’t going to get,” O’Kelly said.

Although the IBHE made a zero-increase proposal, O’Kelly said there still is a loss because of inflation across the state.

In preparing a budget of more than $50 billion, Blagojevich will look to create financing to fill the almost $2 billion state budget deficit. He will propose as much as $400 million in additional corporate taxes by closing tax loopholes, which he said in a Chicago Sun Times article are “ripping off the people of our state.”

Blagojevich’s budget proposal for higher education is just the next step in determining the amount of funding public universities will receive, Peters said. After he outlines the state budget, the Illinois General Assembly and its committees will hold hearings to make final appropriations. These must be approved by Blagojevich, who has the power to approve, veto or line-item veto the budget.

Peters said it is a lengthy process and the hearings on the House of Representatives and Senate side of the General Assembly probably will be held in April. With Blagojevich taking over last year, public universities didn’t have a budget until July, but Peters said he expects this year to go a little smoother.

He said right now, he is hoping for the best and getting ready to defend NIU’s budget in front of the committees. Each university, he said, has a chance to make a statement regarding its budget, and the committee can ask a range of questions that will help it come up with a budget for each university.

Rep. Robert Pritchard (R-Hinckley) is on the House Side Higher Education Appropriations Committee, and Sen. Brad Burzynski (R-Sycamore) is on the Senate Higher Education Appropriations Committee. Both are good things for NIU, Peters said.