Regents request budget increases to boost university research

The state Board of Regents has approved a budget request that seeks more than $44 million in extra state spending, with most of the new money targeted to help boost research and technology at South Dakota's six public universities.

The state-run universities have focused on instruction for more than a century, but the schools must update their computer systems, laboratories and research capacities so they can take advantage of new research opportunities and prepare students for the knowledge-based economy, said Tad Perry, the board's executive director.

"This is kind of a defining moment in South Dakota's history," Perry said Thursday.

Sioux Falls philanthropist T. Denny Sanford's $400 million donation to Sanford Health, formerly Sioux Valley Health System, will provide opportunities for research, Perry said. And the selection of the former Homestake Gold Mine in Lead as the site of a proposed national underground science lab will give South Dakota universities a chance to work on research with the world's leading physicists, he said.

The university system is getting $174.4 million in state general funds this year, so the requested increase would be about 25 percent.

In a telephone meeting Thursday, the regents approved a budget request that seeks an extra $32 million in ongoing state spending on universities. Another $12 million is being sought on a one-time basis to connect the universities to a high-speed Internet service and to improve computer systems at the schools.

In addition, the budget request recommends issuing nearly $75 million in bonds to upgrade laboratories and research facilities.

Gov. Mike Rounds will use the regents' request when he writes his proposed state budget. The 2008 Legislature will pass the final version of the next state budget.

The higher education budget request includes more than $10.1 million in state funds in new base operating funds to cover funding shortfalls in operating expenses and utility spending, bonding for maintenance and repair projects and faculty salaries.

State government should cover normal salary increases, as it does for other state agencies, so the cost is no longer charged to students, Regents President Harvey Jewett said.

Another $5 million is being sought to allow universities to hire more research professors and graduate assistants and to free up professors to spend more time on research.

Nearly $6.6 million would be used to boost maintenance and repair work, and nearly $5.2 million would be used to make the annual payment on the $75 million bonding project that would upgrade research and laboratory facilities.

The request for ongoing spending also includes more than $5.5 million to connect universities to a faster Internet system and expand the use of more laptops connected to a wireless system.

More than $12 million is being sought on a one-time basis to move to the improved Internet system, provide wireless systems to connect laptops to the Internet, and train faculty.

More students are using laptops with wireless Internet connections in high schools across South Dakota, so they expect the same kind of technology when they attend college, Perry said.

Without good facilities and support for research, South Dakota universities have trouble attracting professors and students, Perry said.