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System might see
fund consolidation
Schools may lose
overhead funds
BY MATTHEW BOWLES
STAFF WRITER
UNC-system campuses could
lose their individual oversight of
important funds if the N.C. General
Assembly brings back a retired
budgetary measure.
As legislators examine various
proposals meant to balance the
budget and fill a massive shortfall,
they might look at taking overhead
receipts from the universities and
putting the money into the General
Fund.
Overhead receipts, formally
referred to as facilities and admin
istrative receipts, accompany fed
eral research grants to cover costs
indirectly related to the projects
themselves.
These receipts, now controlled
by recipient universities, could go
to the General Fund of the univer
sity system —and legislators would
have the choice of where to spend
them.
In addition to the more than
$1 billion it received in research
grants, the UNC system was
awarded a total of $149.4 million
in overhead receipts for the 2003-
04 fiscal year. Almost 69 percent of
this money was reserved for UNC-
Chapel Hill.
The university has not always
held full control over these receipts,
said Jeff Davies, UNC-system vice
president for finance.
“Several years ago, there was a
process in place by which the state
captured some of the university’s
overhead receipts,” he said. “During
the last few years, we have retained
100 percent of the receipts.”
Tony Waldrop, UNC-CH vice
chancellor for research and eco
nomic development, said a reduc
tion in receipts would hinder
r the University’s research depart
ments.
“Clearly that would have a huge
impact, depending on the amount
they decide to withhold,” he said.
Money from facilities and
administrative receipts are one
source for supplementing higher
SCHOOLS
FROM PAGE 3
value,” he said.
Pedersen shared a similar out
look. “Any of these reductions will
reduce the quality of the programs
and services we offer,” he said.
Board member Mike Kelley said
he hopes commissioners realize
the importance of public educa
tion when they review Pedersen’s
recommended budget May 5. “We
are the best thing government can
do with its dollars,” he said.
After commissioners discuss
the budget next month, the budget
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education bonds, funding of con
struction projects, maintaining
libraries and paying research aides,
Waldrop said.
“We’re very appreciative that the
state has allowed us to retain those
funds in recent years.”
But state lawmakers are not rul
ing out the option of seizing some
of the money.
Rep. Maggie Jeffus, D-Guilford,
chairwoman of the appropriations
subcommittee on education, said
the committee still is discussing
the particulars of the budget and
has not made a decision.
“At this point, everything is on
the table to look at,” Jeffus said. “I
don’t know that one is more impor
tant than the other.”
The Senate has yet to present
its own plan and will first address
the issue in committee. Because
of the budget shortfall, members
of the Senate’s higher education
appropriations subcommittee are
among those who have to make
cuts.
The committee has asked state
universities to plan for budget cuts
of as much as 4 percent, though
Sen. A. B. Swindell, D-Nash, co
chairman of the committee, said
they probably won’t be that high.
He added that putting overhead
receipts in the General Fund is
always an option to quell budget
deficits.
Swindell also said the state must
be cautious with regard to which
funds it decides to cut, adding that
the government should act in the
interest of students.
“We must stay focused on the
students,” he said. “Numbers are
well and good, but each time I take
a look at the budget and I see cuts,
I think of what this will do to the
students.”
And if the state legislature does
attempt to take some of the over
head receipts, university adminis
trators will lobby hard against any
such measure, Davies said.
“We would argue at length, if
this proposal emerged, to ensure
that these funds are available at
the campuses.”
Contact the State Ef National
Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
will continue to be reviewed and
revised through a series of public
hearings and work sessions.
Pedersen will announce the
district’s final budget July 21.
And while he said he is trying to
be positive about the budget pro
cess, Pedersen admitted that he
thinks the outlook is not bright.
“I want to be optimistic,”
Pedersen said.
“But frankly, I don’t know if I’ve
received signs that we should nec
essarily be optimistic.”
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@unc.edu.
From Page Three
Professor reports to city schools
Grumet eyes future work on disparity
BY BRIANNA BISHOP
ASSISTANT CITY EDITOR
On the heels of a report citing
major disparities between the two
local school districts, some city
school board members say further
study is needed at the heart of the
issue in the classroom.
Professor Madeleine Grumet
of the University’s School of
Education, who spearheaded the
report, spoke with the Chapel
Hill-Carrboro Board of Education
on Thursday about her recent
findings.
Grumet’s report states that due
to the district’s special tax, city
schools have about sl2 million
more than county schools each
year to spend on resources such
as social workers and subject-area
specialists.
Both Grumet and members of
the school board agreed that the
area needs further contemplation
and more in-depth studies to look
at the true disparities between the
districts.
CHANGES
FROM PAGE 3
Last fall, 16 students were put on
probation because of academic vio
lations, and 28 received probation
as part of punishment for conduct
violations such as drug offenses
and property violations.
McDowell said he’d prefer to get
more opinions on the issue before
changing the standard.
“I feel like everyone in the
University should have a say in
that,” he said.
Officials also are considering
whether to maintain the current
standard needed for conviction.
As it now stands, the honor sys
tem cannot convict a defendant
unless it is sure “beyond a reason
able doubt” that the student is guilty.
The changes would switch that to a
“reasonable standard” of proof.
Because the honor system is a
BUDGET
FROM PAGE 3
the town get out of the commercial
garbage business altogether.
Committee members also are
poised to recommend the sale of
at least one of three town-owned
buildings: the post office build
ing on Franklin Street, the Chapel
Hill Museum and the Inter-Faith
Council’s men’s shelter.
Member Alan Rimer said sell
ing the museum and relocating it
to the old post office would be a
solution to everyone’s problem.
But the committee might be hard
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“This study has to be moved to
the next level,” Vice Chairwoman
Liz Carter said, adding that the
teachers and parents who see the
inner workings of the schools on a
daily basis should be included in
the research.
Grumet had similar thoughts,
saying the report provided data
and inferences but not the signifi
cance of its findings.
“We’re also not giving you very
powerful information about what’s
going on in the classrooms,” she
added.
She said that in order to really
understand the problems facing
both systems, studies need to focus
on how it feels to be a student in
each district.
Grumet told the board she would
enjoy the opportunity to research
such points.
The Orange County Board of
Commissioners first requested
the report to help it examine a
controversial proposal to merge
the districts an idea first pro
“We need to do a
better job of
analyzing what
was going on in the
student’s life.”
DAVE GILBERT, dean
University entity and not a crimi
nal court, Chavez said, it is not
bound to “beyond a reasonable
doubt.”
Leaders are still discussing the
revisions, and they won’t take any
action until next year when the
Committee on Student Conduct
gets outside opinions, Chavez said.
“It’s a conversation we’ve been
needing for a while.
Contact the University Editor
at udesk@unc.edu.
pressed to find common ground on
issues such as employee medical
benefits and competitive pay raises.
Rimer said that compared to
private standards, employee medi
cal benefits, which are expected to
increase 15 percent or $440,000
next year, are extremely gener
ous.
While former town Mayor Joe
Capowski said he is reluctant to
change medical benefits for work
ers in “tough, dirty jobs,” many
members favored keeping insur
ance costs down by placing a cap
on increases.
Perhaps the town’s most cov-
posed by Commissioner Moses
Carey Jr. in 2003 as a solution to
the inequity problems between
the systems.
But Grumet said the report
was not comprehensive enough to
weigh into a debate of the pros and
cons of merger.
“I don’t feel our work has gen
erated an opinion,” she said of
the report, adding that the idea
of a merger has to do with social
issues not touched upon in the
report.
“I think the issues of merger
have as much to do with culture
as they do with resources,” she
said.
“Merger is more than money
and achievement.”
While there is still not a defini
tive answer about how to equalize
the districts’ resources, Grumet
said that by increasing collabora
tion, the districts could easily find
ways in which they can help each
other.
“There are possibilities of just
extending the areas where each
district is stronger,” she said.
Specifically, Grumet said the dis-
WHITE RIBBON
FROM PAGE 3
Ertischek, the group’s treasurer.
He said it is important to fun
nel peer pressure into something
that can produce change for the
better.
The campaign sponsored a Salsa
Night last week to raise money for
the violence prevention center,
which Ertischek said group mem
bers see as a very worthy cause.
Members of Que Rico, a
University dance subgroup of the
Carolina Hispanic Association,
volunteered to teach participants
the moves during the evening, for
which the campaign sold more
than 60 tickets.
“The focus of the campaign is to
get men involved, but this was one
way we could get women involved,”
Satterwhite noted.
After collecting a few small
eted priority excluded from the
base budget —and at $750,000,
the largest are across-the-board
competitive pay raises.
But, as areas for savings dwindle,
funding proposed 3 percent raises
could be difficult, Pease said.
Capowski said the town should
prioritize a 1.5 percent raise for the
town’s lowest-paid workers.
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FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 2005
Hr
UNC Professor
Madeleine
Grumet
reported on
the disparity
between area
schools.
tricts could work together on devel
oping curricula and training for pro
fessionals such as administrators.
Employees of county schools
do not have access to the same
opportunities for professional
development as city school work
ers, she said.
Board Chairwoman Lisa
Stuckey thanked Grumet for her
research, saying the report gave
the district the opportunity to
look at itself from a much broader
perspective.
“I thought the report was fasci
nating,” she said.
Grumet will meet with the
Orange County Board of Education
April 25 to discuss her findings.
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@unc.edu.
donations on top of the cash from
their ticket sales, the group pre
sented a $485.76 check Thursday
to Melissa RadclifF, interim execu
tive director of the violence pre
vention center.
Radcliff said that as a small
organization, the center does not
have many resources. She said
continued support from campus
groups aids the organization by
providing access for more people.
“We would like to think this is
a relationship that could grow not
only through the campaign sea
son but throughout the year,” she
said.
Ertischek said he has high
hopes for the campaign’s future.
“Next year, we’ll have people who
are really interested and looking to
kick it up a notch.”
Contact the University Editor
at udesk@unc.edu.
“I think we need to do some
thing to help these employees, to
help their morale,” he said.
On Saturday, the committee
will finalize its recommendations,
which will be presented to the
council Monday night.
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@unc.edu.
5