Repub Gov to cut 41% of Alaska University System Budget, brain drain and closed campuses expected

[Demovictory9]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/alaska-fears-brain-drain-after-41-percent-proposed-cut-university-n1026466


Alaska fears 'brain drain' after 41 percent proposed cut to university system
The cuts could close campuses, shut down departments, and force 1,300 layoffs. "We may not even be able to mow the lawns," one administrator said.

Greg Knight has lived in Alaska his entire life.

It’s where he went to school, raised his family, and planned to retire. But after Gov. Mike Dunleavy's recent veto of the state budget, which cut $130 million of state funding for the University of Alaska system, Knight said he might have to leave his beloved state.

When he heard the news, he started packing up the home he’s owned in Anchorage for 20 years.

“It’s heartbreaking,” he said, but equivalent jobs just don’t exist in the state. “If this goes through, I could find myself unemployed in a matter of 60 days.”

Knight, 53, is a fiscal manager at the University of Alaska Anchorage, a job he doesn’t think will be around if the veto stays. “I’ll have to leave Alaska,” he said.

If Dunleavy has his way, the university says it will have to eliminate 1,300 jobs, close entire campuses, lay off tenured faculty, and shutter academic programs. "We may not even be able to mow the lawns," university Chancellor Cathy Sandeen told NBC News.

Lawmakers and university administrators knew the state would cut $5 million from the budget, which seemed manageable and foreseeable considering Alaska has reduced its financial support of its university system four out of the past five years. But the extra $130 million added on by the Republican governor’s veto, totaling a 41 percent cut in the state funding, blindsided the university.

The state Legislature has until July 12 to overturn the veto, but it needs support from three-fourths of the legislators. State political experts say it will be an uphill battle, and they will need to whip votes fast — right now it hinges on about six undecided Republicans.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/alaska-fears-brain-drain-after-41-percent-proposed-cut-university-n1026466