John M. Hutchinson
Commissioner
Montana University System
The schedules below are a response to the allegations made by the Office of Budget and Program Planning (Budget Office) that the University System allocates its budgets in such a way that the formula becomes non-viable. We believe that these schedules accurately reflect the University System's commitment to the instructional component of the formula and the priority the system places on faculty salaries.
Schedule 1 corrects the data presented in the Budget Office document "Allocations made by University System." (The Budget Office document excluded $488,260 of special session reductions.) Additionally, Schedule 1 indicates how much of the original House Bill 2 was allocated to each program and where the campuses ended the year as a percentage of total budget. The University system actually spent more on instruction than originally budgeted and only spent 2.5% less on instruction as a percent of total budget.
Schedule 1
Allocations Made by University System
| Program | HB2 | % | Pay Plan | Audit | Budget Amendment |
Rescissions | Program Transfers |
Final Budget |
% |
| Instruction | $75,463,033 | 54.91% | $1,323,858 | $2,625,778 | ($736,743) | ($2,326,121) | $76,349,805 | 52.49% | |
| Research | 1,297,743 | 0.94% | 59,772 | 4,834 | (1,161) | 99,367 | 1,460,555 | 1.00% | |
| Public Service | 829,049 | 0.60% | 54,517 | 1,496 | 0 | 52,330 | 937,392 | 0.64% | |
| Support | 39,225,124 | 28.54% | 2,321,507 | 17,451 | 1,391,463 | (334,746) | 2,238,397 | 44,859,196 | 30.84% |
| O&M Plant | 17,109,808 | 12.45% | 696,871 | 307,214 | (369,695) | 283,731 | 18,027,929 | 12.39% | |
| Fee Waivers | 3,508,138 | 2.55% | 653,399 | 0 | (347,704) | 3,813,833 | 2.62% | ||
| Total | $137,432,895 | 100.00% | $4,456,525 | $17,451 | $4,984,184 | ($1,442,345) | 0 | $145,448,710 | 99.98% |
Schedule 2 corrects the data presented in the Budget Office document titled "Instruction Program: Faculty Salaries." The corrections listed include part-time faculty salaries, termination payouts, and educational stipends. The detail, by campus, is available from the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education. The amount of the Special Session rescission which was allocated to the Instruction Program is also deducted from the HB2 faculty salaries column.
Schedule 2
Montana University System Instruction Program:
Faculty Salaries FY 1992
| University Unit |
HB2/509 Faculty Salaries* |
Actual
Faculty & GTA Salaries |
Corrections
to OB Pay Plan |
Total Actual Salaries |
Difference
from Appropriation |
% |
| MSU | **$20,714,867 | $20,997,657 | $20,997,657 | $208,790 | 1.37% | |
| UM | 17,022,982 | 17,611,971 | 17,611,971 | 588,989 | 3.46% | |
| EMC | ***5,748,160 | 5,101,929 | 603,481 | 5,705,410 | (42,750) | -0.74% |
| WMC-UM | 3,322,434 | 2,879,718 | 309,092 | 3,188,810 | (133,624) | -4.02% |
| NMC | 1,840,045 | 1,598,718 | 217,525 | 1,816,243 | (23,802) | -1.29% |
| MCMST | 3,631,546 | 3,610,108 | 114,535 | 3,724,643 | 93,097 | 2.56% |
*Reduced by rescission.
**MSU's appropriated number, as shown by the OB Pay Plan, includes classified
salaries, benefits, operations, and capital associated with program mods approved
by the legislature.
***EMC's appropriation also reduced by tuition shortfall.
The final schedules [linked below] reflect, on a percentage basis, how each campus actually spent its budget since 1989, and how, for years 1989 and 1991, that compares with peer expenditures. Montana institutions allocate more, as a percentage of their budgets, to instruction than do their peers.
The "formula" is an appropriation model. The University System has always availed itself of the statutory right to transfer funds from one program to another. Montana Code Annotated 17-7-139 allows transfers up to 5% of an agency's total appropriation. The University System has complied with the law.
Especially in times of tight budgets, it is important to allow some flexibility, which the transfer statute permits. The schedules indicate that the Montana University System has allocated a higher percentage of its budgets to instruction and then attempted to maintain that priority throughout the budget year.