Louisiana’s Senate worked Monday, forgoing the holiday barbeque. The Senate Finance Committee did do some grilling however, as Commissioner of Administration Kristy Nichols gave them a rundown of HB 1, as approved by the House.
“They did include $31.1 million for LSU Medical School in Shreveport,” Nichols said of the House “priority list” – a wish list if more revenue is found.
That fanned the flames of concern from several committee members. Even though the House found ways to generate more overall funding for higher education, the medical school at LSU-S is still quite short. In the current budget year, which ends June 30th, the Shreveport Med School was allocated over $90-million. The proposed new budget gives them less than $29-million.
“From the testimony we’ve heard from the medical schools, it seems like what was told to us is by October of this year – if the revenue stream was not more predictable – then there could be some credentialing issues,” New Iberia Senator Fred Mills stated worriedly.
Nichols offered an option: get the money from the LSU Health Care Services Division. In other words, from the medical school in New Orleans.
“We do need to look at the reserve balance for HCSD, as well, as part of a solution,” Nichols said. “Because HCSD does have cash reserves on hand.”
Shreveport Senator Sherri Buffington explained that’s no solution.
“When you talk about a medical school’s ‘reserves’, there isn’t some big huge savings account socked away somewhere,” Buffington said. “This is their day-to-day general operating checking account.”
Senator Greg Tarver, also of Shreveport, asked Nichols how her “solution” would help either medical school keep its accreditation intact.
“Don’t they have to have so much reserve on hand?” Tarver queried Nichols.
“I know that there is, I think, an expectation…” Nichols started to reply.
Tarver pressed, “But it is an accreditation requirement, isn’t it?”
“I don’t know that there’s an explicit formula,” Nichols prevaricated.
LSU-Shreveport’s Med School has said it needs to have $35-million in its reserve account. LSU Med School in New Orleans has $45-million on hand. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), the accrediting body, is set to review LSU’s New Orleans Med School’s accreditation in October, and has said they’ll be reviewing LSU-S’s financials again at that time, too.
Copyright 2015 WRKF
