![\"NMSU](\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/NMSU-sign-336x225.jpg\")
Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/p>
The New Mexico State University sign at the corner of Union Avenue and Sam Steele Way in Las Cruces.<\/p><\/div>\n
Many say additional cuts to higher education funding are inevitable.\u00a0The state is facing a shortfall of $458 million<\/a> in the current fiscal year, which began July 1, according to updated revenue projections released last week.<\/p>\n The state also ended the last fiscal year $131 million in the red.\u00a0Lawmakers plan to meet in a special session, likely next month, to address both\u00a0shortfalls.<\/p>\n Gov. Susana Martinez, a Republican, insists\u00a0that she won’t consider raising taxes\u00a0to reduce the need for cuts. Though many lawmakers, particularly Democrats, want to consider tax hikes, there\u00a0aren’t\u00a0likely enough votes to override a Martinez veto.<\/p>\n Which leaves significant cuts as the only apparent option. The state may use its $219 million Tobacco Permanent Fund, which comes from settlements with tobacco companies, to help plug the budget shortfalls, but it’s not nearly enough.<\/p>\n Because of Martinez’s opposition to tax increases, “you have no choices,” said state Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces. “I think our universities and colleges and all the families that support them are going to have to increasingly shoulder the burden.”<\/p>\n “That’s frankly why the response from the Legislature so far has been to ask the governor what she proposes,” Cervantes said.<\/p>\n The Governor’s Office hasn’t responded to two emails seeking comment. Martinez has\u00a0already directed state agencies under her direct control — which don’t\u00a0include NMSU — to reduce spending by 5 percent<\/a>. She’s urged agencies not under her control to do the same.<\/p>\n Negotiations between the governor and legislative leaders about how to balance the budget have largely been held in secret. Martinez has said she wants lawmakers to call a one-day session to essentially show up and vote on a proposal that is worked out\u00a0in advance.<\/p>\n NMSU\u00a0is already\u00a0making plans.<\/p>\n “We cannot wait until next year to become fiscally conservative because we would not have time to recover funding if needed,” Chancellor Garrey Carruthers wrote in a recent memo<\/a> to the university community.<\/p>\n NMSU spokesman Justin Bannister said the university’s\u00a0previous estimated shortfall of $12.1 million in the current fiscal year included a\u00a0$1.5 million cushion in anticipation of possible\u00a0additional state funding cuts. Carruthers’ memo states that NMSU will also “develop a plan to conserve operating funds.”<\/p>\n “Beyond that, we are watching the situation and will respond the way we need,” Bannister said.<\/p>\n The state\u00a0already cut higher-education funding by 2 percent earlier this year<\/a>. The University of New Mexico\u00a0and many other public colleges raised tuition<\/a> to help cover their shortfalls. NMSU’s Board of Regents rejected a tuition increase, with\u00a0Student Regent Amanda L\u00f3pez Askin calling that action<\/a>\u00a0\u201ca very deliberate breaking of a cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n Instead, due to the reduced state funding and falling student enrollment, NMSU has been cutting.\u00a0Thus far that has included\u00a0eliminating at least 120 filled and vacant positions <\/a>and\u00a0reducing some employee benefits<\/a>\u00a0including\u00a0on-campus employee health services<\/a>. Carruthers and many other high-ranking university employees have\u00a0taken pay cuts<\/a>. The university plans to stop funding the equestrian team next year<\/a> and is considering cutting its Surveying Engineering academic program<\/a>.<\/p>\n All colleges and administrative divisions have already been required to reduce\u00a0their budgets by between 5 and 6.2 percent this year, NMSU says.<\/p>\n A recent analysis<\/a> by the national news organization ProPublica found that tuition and student fees at\u00a0NMSU haven’t\u00a0spiked\u00a0as much since 2000 as they have\u00a0at other public colleges in New Mexico and some surrounding states. But additional cuts might put pressure on regents at NMSU and other schools to once again consider raising tuition and fees.<\/p>\n New Mexico’s\u00a0budget woes are largely due to plummeting oil and gas revenues. That\u00a0has\u00a0sparked new discussions about how to diversify the state’s economy. Some worry that cutting higher education funding further could harm those efforts.<\/p>\n State Rep. Bill McCamley, D-Las Cruces, whose district includes NMSU, is among them. In an interview, he highlighted\u00a0programs at NMSU that can help attract new jobs to the state and equip New Mexico’s young people to do those jobs.<\/p>\n For example, NMSU’s aeronautical engineering program prepares students to work in jobs related to Spaceport America and the new industry the state is trying to build in Southern New Mexico. Do\u00f1a Ana Community College has just started teaching courses at the industrial park in Santa Teresa, arguably the state’s largest economic development project, which are aimed at improving workers’ technical skills related to jobs there. And degrees in\u00a0computer science are key to helping New Mexicans land jobs with companies like\u00a0Facebook, which is considering building a data center<\/a> in Los Lunas.<\/p>\n “This is an absolutely vital component to future job creation,” McCamley said. “So if we’re just going to slash and burn, and that includes cutting NMSU’s budget, we are hamstringing our ability to create a long-term economy that helps us get out of this mess.”<\/p>\n McCamley said he won’t vote for a state budget that makes cuts without increasing revenues through “things like getting rid of the capital gains tax break<\/a>, which has created zero jobs and gives away $50 million a year.”<\/p>\n He also\u00a0wants lawmakers to consider legalizing marijuana to increase revenue. He’s sponsored legislation to do that\u00a0in the past<\/a>,\u00a0but it hasn’t passed.<\/p>\n‘There has to be a better way’<\/h3>\n