Casey to unveil budget proposal

Gov. Robert Casey will announce whether he thinks the University should receive any state funding next fiscal year when he presents his proposed state budget to the legislature in Harrisburg this morning. The University has requested over $42 million for fiscal year 1993-94 -- which begins July 1 -- but many at the University and in Harrisburg said they think Casey will again recommend no funding for the University. "Given that the governor did not recommend funding for [private universities] before, I would suspect that the governor will not reccommend funding for private universities again," House Appropriations Committee official Mary Soderberg said yesterday. "The whole question is one of revenue sources." Most University officials said they are equally pessimistic about Casey's position. "The assumption is that we will not be mentioned in the governor's budget," Budget Director Stephen Golding said earlier this week. The state legislature appropriated no money for the University last summer after Casey recommended that the University receive none of the $41.2 million it had requested for the current fiscal year. But the University may receive $36.3 million for the current fiscal year if the State House of Representatives approves a $73.5 million funding package which was passed unanimously by the Senate last month. "We have not had any indication as to when the House may consider the preferred legislation," Acting Executive Vice President Gould said. "We are continuing to receive encouragement from Harrisburg and we will continue a dialogue to see if a reasonable solution can be reached." The House was waiting to take up the bill until its committees were organized, according to Mary Francis, a legislative aid to Representative Matt Ryan (D-Phila.). All House committees were finalized yesterday, according to Soderberg. She said that the House will probably not take action on the bill before March and that the bill may need serious revision. The $36.3 million would come from approximately $200 million in unappropriated supplemental funding. Soderberg added that the governor had made his own "dramatic" $149 million supplemental appropriations request and that it is unlikely that there will be much money left over for private higher education if his request is granted by the legislature. The bill might also meet opposition from a group of Philadelphia representatives who last year threatened to block state funding for the University unless the University agreed to provide more Mayor's Scholarships for area high school students. "We certainly have never approached the funding issue as if there was any linkage [with Mayor's Scholarships]," Golding said. The Governor's Office refused to comment on the contents of Casey's budget presentation. Paul Cribbins, director of Commonwealth relations for the University, could not be reached for comment. Gould said yesterday that he hopes the governor will recommend that the state give the University some money. "I would hope that the governor would have recognized from the action of the Senate and the many, many people from Penn and the Commonwealth who have indicated what a critical issue the future of the Veterinary School is, that not only Penn but all the other non-preferred [colleges and universities] should receive funding," Gould said. Golding said that he has no idea what Casey's proposal has in store.