By SUSAN JONES
It’s been 84 days since the state legislature’s “deadline” to pass the budget and 50 days since Gov. Josh Shapiro signed the main budget bill, yet the funding for Pitt and the three other state-related universities has yet to materialize.
In his March budget address, Shapiro requested a 7 percent increase in funding for the four state-related universities — Pitt, Penn State, Temple and Lincoln — but the nonpreferred appropriation bill that grouped all the schools together failed to get the required two-thirds majority for approval during the regular legislative session.
For Pitt, that would mean $162.3 million, which all goes toward reducing tuition for in-state students, and $3.6 million for rural education outreach.
“We are currently able to handle the delay in $162 million in appropriations on a short-term basis through prudent fiscal management,” said Hari Sastry, Pitt’s chief financial officer. “We are continuing to work with our lawmakers in Harrisburg and remain hopeful that they will continue our nearly 60-year partnership with us and provide the necessary funding we need to support in-state tuition discounts for Pennsylvania students.”
The state Senate came back into session on Sept. 18 but has taken no action on funding the universities as it awaits the return of the House.
The House is planning to reconvene on Sept. 26. A special election on Sept. 19 in Allegheny County once again gave Democrats a 102 to 101 majority in the House. Democrat Lindsay Powell, the director of workforce strategies at InnovatePGH, beat Erin Connolly Autenreith, a realtor and chair of the Shaler Republican Committee, for the seat Democrat Sara Innamorato vacated in July to run for county executive.
KDKA reported on Sept. 21 that Allegheny County House and Senate Democrats are calling on the House Republican Caucus to work on finding a way to pass the spending bill for tuition discounts at the four schools.
“This is a disgrace to the entire legislative process and shame on my colleagues for their utter failure to do the jobs they were elected to do,” 20th District Rep. Emily Kinkead said. “If we had been able to pass this spending package when we passed the budget, we could have assisted tens of thousands of students in Pennsylvania.”
Funding for Pitt and the other schools has been a political football during the past few years. Last year, in particular, caused Pitt officials to pull out all the stops to encourage the Pitt community to contact their lawmakers and advocate for the University.
In 2022, the state-related schools’ funding bill held up the entire state budget after Republican House lawmakers tacked on an amendment that would have required Pitt to end medical research using human fetal tissue from voluntary abortions. The bill, which again grouped all the schools together, would not have met the two-thirds threshold with that amendment attached. After it was removed, the budget passed and former Gov. Tom Wolf signed it on July 8, 2022.
Chancellor Joan Gabel, who had hoped the state and University budgets would have been passed before she arrived in mid-July, said at the Sept. 14 Senate Council meeting that Pitt’s administration is “working very actively, advocating in Harrisburg, both in the aggregate messaging and also a lot of one-on-one time by me and different members of the team and by Government Affairs,” She said they hope that lawmakers “come through for us very soon.”
In an emailed update to the Pitt community on Sept. 13, the Office of Government Relations and Advocacy said it is in regular contact with leaders in Harrisburg. “When the legislature is back in session, we will likely need your help again to contact your legislators and fight for Pitt.”
One of the issues this year is the perceived lack of transparency by the four school, which are exempt from large portions of Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law. Republican lawmakers and some Democrats have been pushing to change that.
The universities must report their annual 990 IRS form, along with salaries of all officers and directors and top 25 highest paid employees. Pitt’s information is available online. The universities also must provide annual information on Faculty Costs and Faculty Workload, through the Snyder Report, and on the purchase of goods and services over $1,000 in the Stairs Report, which also includes data comparing tuition revenue and other expenses to the previous year.
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
Have a story idea or news to share? Share it with the University Times.