Budget Cuts Limiting Extension Funds

The current recession is forcing all organizations to make adjustments and streamline every dollar accordingly, and university Extension programs throughout the U.S. are no exception. While in some states the budget cuts seem unfairly focused on Extension programs, to be fair, many areas of education are feeling the pressure. However, state Extension directors are working to ensure that budget cuts are commensurate with cuts to other areas of higher education.

Still, those working in Extension realize that being held accountable for every dollar spent is important, regardless of the state of the economy. That is why many involved in state programs are working to make the best of their resources to continue bringing research to the public they serve.

Budget Cuts By State

In Michigan, Gov. Jennifer Granholm proposed in February to cut the budget in half for Michigan State Extension and the Michigan Agricultural Experiment tation and combine the two organizations. The legislature voted against this drastic measure and gave funds back to Extension with economic stimulus money; however, with the state of Michigan’s bad economy, future cuts are inevitable.

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire proposed a 20% cut to Extension as part of the requirement that Washington State University make up a $54 million deficit. The state’s 39 county Extension offices will remain open.

Iowa State Extension is undergoing a massive restructuring that will eliminate 92 county Extension directors and five regional directors, to be replaced by 20 regional directors and one supervisor by the end of the year. Iowa will keep all 99 county offices open, but the state’s five Extension programs will be consolidated into three. The reorganization is expected to reduce the Extension Service’s $100 million budget by $4.3 million annually.

A strategic restructuring is also underway for the Ohio State University Extension, which will see a 24% decrease in available funds through 2011. The FY2009 budget is $23.5 million; by 2011, it will be $19.9 million. The Ohio Agricultural Research and Development
Center at Wooster will see immediate 5% cuts, too, with a 14% budget loss through 2011.

Q&A With Extension Directors

We caught up with Extension directors in several states to find out how budget cuts are affecting their programs, whether they feel those cuts are fair, and what they expect the future will bring.

How do the recent cuts in Extension funding impact agriculture programs affecting fruit and vegetable growers in your state?

Keith Smith, Director, Ohio State University Extension (OSUE): The bottom line is we have fewer educators because we can’t refill positions, so when someone leaves or retires, we can’t hire anyone else. In 2001, we had 320 educators and now we have 220, but this hasn’t happened overnight; we haven’t been in a growing mode since 2001.

Since 2001 we have encouraged our people to go after grants and that which we call “other category funding.” Our funding comes from state, federal, and counties. Federal and state have been struggling for the last 10 years and counties haven’t been able to make up for state and federal funding levels. Our funding from other categories is almost as much as the federal category; we have supplemented as much as we could. We are going after grants to fund new areas of interest, as well, such as our sustainable agriculture group.

Linda Kirk Fox, Associate Vice President and Dean, Washington State University Extension (WSUE): I don’t want to trivialize this, making it seem that we haven’t had big cuts, but we were very strategic in the decisions we made that we didn’t cut any personnel or faculty in county offices that serve the horticulture industry. The areas we chose to reduce were in support services and administration. We had a very large cut — lost 20% — the largest amount we have ever seen; that’s one in every $5. So I don’t trivialize it, but I would like to suggest that growers appreciate our strategy because we tried to keep them from feeling the cuts. We have lost many faculty members over the years and didn’t start from a position of strength so we knew that if we cut any more, it would be ludicrous.

Jack Payne, Vice President for Extension and Outreach, Iowa State University (ISUE): We are working to minimize any impact on our agriculture programs. What is important to understand, even though we have had to reduce our overall administrative structure by removing County Extension directors and moving to a regional director system, we still have in place 120 program specialists distributed around the state who deliver Extension programs. These folks are distributed due to need. Jerry Miller, program leader for ISU Extension Ag programs, and his staff also have begun live “webinars” to citizens who can access the educational programs via a computer. These programs are helping people connect to the 226 agriculture experts on campus and throughout the state who are available to answer ag questions and provide information.

Tom Coon, Director, Michigan State University Extension: We recognize that things are tough and revenue is down. We’re looking at how we can be more efficient and bring in new revenue. We need to find other ways of funding other than depending so heavily on appropriations, so we’re trying to find every efficiency we can and every dollar we can in new areas.

Are cuts in Extension dollars being approached the same way as cuts in other areas of higher education or is Extension being cut deeper than other areas?

Smith, OSUE: Here in Ohio, Governor Strickland has put a premium on education, and held higher ed up on these cuts. The problem is that Extension and the Ohio Ag Experiment Station are different line items and also part of higher education; however, we received a greater cut because the Governor didn’t align us with higher education.

The Ohio House and Senate restored the cut that Governor Strickland was going to make, so it seems that the message is starting to get through. He delivered two budget cuts to all government agencies: 4.7% cut in September 2008 and another 5% in January. OSU did not get cut but Extension did.

Fox, WSUE: At our university, they chose to separate and protect academic programs, and cuts in colleges ranged from 0% to 14%. But cuts to Extension were definitely much higher than any other higher ed. Some justify that students pay tuition, so therefore academic programs that students are buying should be protected. The funding model in the state is so dependent on tuition that it was rationalized that students shouldn’t pay higher tuition; however, the increase in tuition is 28% over the next two years.

Payne, ISUE: At Iowa State University, we received the same percentage cut to our state appropriations as was the university’s cut to its overall state appropriation. No more, no less.

Coon, MSUE: We argued to the Michigan legislature that Extension is the same as higher education and therefore should be treated the same. Extension doesn’t benefit from tuition money, so if anything we are more restricted than the 15 other university lines, because we don’t have that outside revenue. Do you anticipate that cuts to Extension will be an ongoing problem in your state and how will you combat potential annual cuts?

Do you anticipate that cuts to Extension will be an ongoing problem in your state and how will you combat potential annual cuts?

 

Coon, MSUE: This will possibly be an ongoing problem every year, as the Michigan economy has been down. Until we come to terms that our Michigan state government doesn’t keep up with our appetite for spending, even when our economy turns around, we’re going to have this problem.

Smith, OSUE: As long as the economy is bad, we’re all going to suffer and hardly anybody is exempt. When the governor signed the budget this week, tuition rates were raised 3.5%. If the economy suffers, we’ll suffer. In 90s when economy was good, extension was getting double digit increases. We had tremendous support this year, and when Gov. Strickland made cuts, many people in legislature rallied behind us, many residents sent letters, and we got $5 million back that would have been cut. As the good times roll back, I have every hope that the funding will come back.

Fox, WSUE: I don’t think so; the cuts we have incurred have been cyclical by economy in nature. The last two years, Extension saw significant budget increases; under the United Ag Initiative, there were significant targeted new positions created for ag research. We were on the right trajectory until the early September business cycle. We are positioning ourselves to protect our faculty resources and continue to build and are positive that this will not be ongoing, we’re not on a downward spiral.

Payne, ISUE: Extension has not been singled out in these latest cuts to the fiscal year (FY)2010 budget and was treated the same as the rest of the university. Sources in the Iowa Legislature and the Governor’s Office have told us that they anticipate the cuts to all state agencies including higher education to be deeper in FY 2011 that FY2010.

What measures will your state’s Extension agency take to make dollars stretch more efficiently as cuts are made? Is regionalization of programs a possibility?

Fox, WSUE: We will strengthen the use of the Internet in providing publication and decision aids that growers have told us are very important. We will place more effort into making sure information is accessible, and that the learning environment on the Internet is much more enhanced. We’re using the Web to bring resources to growers, and using technology to help our money resources stretch. We’ll provide more training and communications internally and less travel statewide so we can be more efficient.

Smith, OSUE: We are using technology to a greater extent, since we can’t get out as much because of travel restrictions. We will regionalize to certain extent but still will have offices in every county. When requests come in for seminars in a particular area, we have to be thinking regional,

Payne, ISUE: We still maintain all of our county Extension offices and they will continue to be the main point of contact. Our regional directors will be working with the County Extension Councils, County Extension staff who are in these offices to maintain programs, which the regional directors will coordinate with program leaders on campus. All of our program leaders are working with me to develop a new strategic plan to make sure that we continue to provide programming across our program areas and maintain our relevancy to Iowa citizens.

Coon, MSUE: We hope by our own proactive changes, we can avoid some things that have happened in other states. We want to reduce cost of administering 82 county offices so a greater share of funding goes to programs. We have already accomplished regionalization without abandoning county offices, with a majority of our educators now serving multiple counties, We want to focus on delivering programs without as much administrative oversight. We pay really close attention to what’s happening in other states so we can learn from them. We are known throughout the country for our Area of Expertise teams, and we are moving toward more statewide collaboration and coordination of programs.

What is next for Extension in your state? How will Extension continue to prove its worth and be accountable to the state and people it serves?

Payne, ISUE: All of our program specialists on campus and those who are distributed around the state remain. In addition to their continued programming we will be using technology more, such as eXtension. We also expect as budget health returns that we will have more money on the program side of the budget to address new initiatives such as energy and sustainability. Our budget has been mainly used to support salaries with little program money. Therefore, when you have such a big budget cut, and with a budget that is mainly salaries, there is not much choice but to cut positions and change the infrastructure.

Smith, OSUE: Our mission pretty well says that – we improve lives and communities. That’s what we’re about and if we don’t improve your life, your farm, your community, or improving a young person through 4-H, we will cease to exist. We need to remain relevant and continue to help our clientele meet their needs, and we rely on our clientele to let us know if we are helping them. If we fail, they will also tell legislators that we are not needed.

We are in the business of growing lives and growing communities. We have been in that business since 1914 and we’re making differences not just in rural areas, but in urban centers like Cleveland where we have helped to plant 50 acres of urban gardens throughout the city. These gardens are turning old rundown areas into gardens, helping feed communities and improving nutrition.

Fox, WSUE: We have to be cognizant of the funding priorities of federal, state and county government, which typically include food security, health care, and food and ag systems. We are addressing big picture issues and doing it very strategically.

In today’s information age, how relevant are county Extension offices and should state Extension programs consider weeding out less necessary/successful programs to fund agriculture programs?

Smith, OSUE: Definitely we can’t continue to do everything as we have done in the past, so through our strategic planning process we have identified areas we’re going to diminish and concentrate on star, growth areas. A local marketing firm recently conducted an independent study that found that Extension is more needed today and more relevant now than it was in 1914 when it was created. We are an economic engine for the state and still very relevant and very much needed. We provide unbiased, research based information, that separates us from Google. As a conservative estimate, we benefit the 75,000 farms in Ohio by putting $149 million in Ohio farmers’ pockets because of research. That doesn’t include 4-H, the Master Gardener program, home finance, or business and community development areas.

Payne, ISUE: Our citizens readily identify with the County Office as a meeting place and contact point for access to Extension programs. That will continue; however, we will be training county staff on how to connect citizens who come to the office with expertise on campus and with field specialists via the internet. County programming will continue but regional programming where appropriate will also happen. All of our Extension programs remain popular and are well attended and heavily accessed by Iowans.

Fox, WSUE: At Washington State, we have had several years that we have had small budget cuts so we have already eliminated some programs and the relevancy of our programs continues to be evaluated, so we have a much tighter portfolio. We are also pursuing very competitive grants so we are seen as worthy of funding. It’s a different way of looking at going for grants as an indication that we are already in the high priority areas. There are downsides that there are important areas of ag that are not covered by grants, so we have to have some base dollars to cover those.

It is important that we are the best choice for using the Internet – we had better be the pages that come up first. So in a sense, we can contribute to that vast pool of knowledge out there.