Dear Friends,

Governor Beverly Perdue has proposed her budget for 2009-2010, and I want to share with you my feelings of encouragement as it includes several positive elements that will be good for Appalachian.

First, the governor’s budget includes full enrollment growth funding for the campuses, and, second, it includes full funding for need-based financial aid. These are the two highest priorities for the UNC System and for Appalachian.

There is a proposed 6.5 percent cut for higher education, however, which includes both recurring and nonrecurring items. These include funding salaries at only 98 percent of our current payroll, certain line item cuts not yet identified, adjustments to reserves, and a cut of 3.6 percent across the board for each campus budget.

Unlike the governor’s recommendation to fund salaries at only 98 percent, this proposal does give management the flexibility to determine where we will allocate the 3.6 percent reduction for our campus, which for Appalachian will mean about $9 million.

On Monday, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Education released its budget, which includes funding for the UNC System. Following is a joint statement issued at the same time from University of North Carolina President Erskine Bowles and North Carolina Community College System President Scott Ralls.

"The 2009-11 draft state budget released today by the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Education offers clear evidence that our legislators understand the critical role our public universities and community colleges must play in North Carolina's economic recovery. The proposed budget provides important new funding that would help create good-paying jobs for North Carolinians and provide expanded opportunities in health care, energy, engineering, aviation and defense, technology, and film making. The budget's renewed emphasis on technical education programs and long-overdue funding for instructional equipment at our community colleges would help put even more North Carolinians back to work. While the legislative budget process is far from complete, this marks an important step forward for our students and our state."

As you know, the N.C. House also presents a budget bill and then both the House and Senate bills are hammered together through a series of negotiations in committee. The compromises are then offered to the governor in a single bill. At this time, it is unknown what the House budget will include.

I cannot overemphasize how critical it is for Appalachian to receive both full enrollment growth funding and full funding for need-based financial aid. We will be watching the developments in both the Senate and the House very carefully.

As we approach the end of this fiscal year, we are making certain we have the funds necessary to meet the needs of our campus. It is unclear at this time whether we will have to revert more money before the end of this fiscal year, June 30. April’s state collections won’t be realized for another month and those numbers will be telling.

My thanks to the faculty and staff who have diligently prepared to respond to requests from the federal stimulus package. I am very pleased to report that we currently have more than 40 proposals in-hand ready to be submitted to the UNC Federal Relations Officer and to other federal and state offices.

We also anticipate additional energy savings to be realized over Easter break so I want to again thank all of you who have turned off lights and computers, turned down thermostats and did what you could to save energy on our campus. We already have realized almost $300,000 in energy savings this year.

Finally, my thanks to our faculty who have continued their commitment to quality in scholarship and to our staff for their dedication to the university despite having $8.6 million less to invest in our campus this year. Their work is more than impressive during this time of challenge and uncertainty.

With Appalachian pride,

Kenneth E. Peacock
Chancellor