Tagged: budget cuts

The budget has gotten so tight at LSU-Shreveport that three retired professors have offered to teach without pay so the university could save money.

The Shreveport Times reports that the LSU System approved about $1.9 million in cuts to LSUS this past Friday.

Since 2008, state funding has been cut more than 45 percent at LSUS, causing the university to reduce its staff by about 20 percent.

The LSU Athletics Department has agreed to give $36 million over five years to the flagship campus, to help bolster academic programs that have been hit with continued budget cuts.

The university's governing board, the Board of Supervisors, approved the unique, profit-sharing arrangement Friday.

Athletics Director Joe Alleva says he knows of no similar arrangement at other colleges around the country.

The University of New Orleans is cutting $12 million from its budget through a combination of early retirements and the elimination of vacant positions to offset reductions by the state.

UNO said Tuesday that about 25 faculty members and 28 staff members will be offered "incentivized retirements," and the university will eliminate 30 vacant faculty positions, five terminal faculty contracts, 26 graduate assistants and 16 non-classified staff.

UNO President Peter Fos says the moves will save the university $3.3 million.

The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee is asking for an attorney general's opinion about whether Gov. Bobby Jindal can close a state-run mental health facility in St. Tammany Parish without legislative approval.

Sen. Jack Donahue, a Republican from Mandeville, says closing Southeast Louisiana Hospital in a parish that has one of the state's highest suicide rates is unwise. He's pushing to keep the facility open.

Louisiana's health agency must save $56 million on drugs for Medicaid patients to help balance the state budget, but doesn't yet have a final plan for doing that.

A top aide to health Secretary Bruce Greenstein say the changes will take effect Oct. 1, and emergency rules will be published in September.

Legislators, pharmacy interests and others tell The Advocate they are concerned about the lack of transparency and what they call a rush to make changes that need caution to avoid damaging health care. Consumer groups worry about restricted drug access.