Legislature continues second special session; Western to remain open despite lack of new state budget

The Legislature is in its second 30-day special session and has yet to finalize a budget.  The Governor’s Office of Financial Management (OFM) expects an operating budget to be passed by June 30; however, as you may have heard, they are implementing contingency planning in the event a budget is not approved before the end of the current fiscal year.  It is prudent that Western do the same.

Western’s budget contains many sources of funding.  Most of Western’s funds are non-appropriated, meaning the money can be expended without legislative appropriation.  Unlike some state agencies, Western has flexibility to continue operations for the short-term on non-appropriated funds with Board of Trustees approval.  At its meeting last week, the Board approved a motion authorizing us to continue operations with non-state funds. 

Fortunately, Summer Quarter is funded by self-sustaining local funds.  Any operational expenses not covered by those self-sustaining dollars will be covered during the months of July and August using one-time funds reserved for unpredictable events such as this.  Western, like OFM, remains optimistic that a budget resolution will be achieved soon.  

However, each day that passes creates more difficulty for our students and their families in planning for the upcoming academic year.  For example, financial packages cannot be awarded to students until the Legislative budget is approved defining such things as funding for the State Need Grant and legislatively approved tuition increase levels.  Campus budget meetings and a special Board meeting have been tentatively scheduled to allow swift turnaround if the Legislature passes a budget by the end of June (see calendar here.)  If a Legislative budget is not approved by June 30, the planning calendar will be revised and distributed to campus.