Schweitzer: University budgets too costly. The Montana School Boards Association "Governor should cooperate on funding"

Gov. Brian Schweitzer told top university system officials Thursday to lower their budget expectations for the next two years after they suggested $74.7 million worth of new proposals.

“Please temper your expectations,” Schweitzer told the presidents of the University of Montana and Montana State University and the commissioner of higher education at a small meeting in his office before the state Board of Education meeting began. “What you’ve asked for may well be the (total) increase for all of state government.”

By CHARLES S. JOHNSON Missoulian State Bureau

Full Story: http://missoulian.com/articles/2008/01/11/news/local/news05.txt

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Governor should cooperate on funding

By MIKE DENNISON – IR State Bureau

Gov. Brian Schweitzer must do more to address the costs of adequately funding Montana’s public schools, rather than suggest schools aren’t using their money efficiently, a major school group said Thursday.

The Montana School Boards Association, representing hundreds of school trustees from across the state, said money woes at Montana schools remain all too real — and that trustees hope the governor will work with schools to solve the problem.

“They think there is room for discussion here,” said Lance Melton, executive director of the association. “The rhetoric lately has been, ‘Let’s fight over it.

Full Story: http://helenair.com/articles/2008/01/11/top/60st_080111_rebuttal.txt

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More "New Math" From the MT Executive Branch

In this article detailing the governor’s hesitancy towards increases in university funding, I noticed another example of the administration’s fudging of numbers. The executive branch already used bunk accounting methods to approve well deserved tax relief for Montanans, but now the administration is inconsistent in its take on university funding over the past decade:

Full Story: http://montanamainstreetblog.typepad.com/montana_main_street_blog/2008/01/more-new-math-f.html