Gov. Jim Edgar approved the Illinois Board of Higher Education’s funding request for fiscal year 1999, clearing the way for important SIU improvement projects to begin.

In his state budget address Wednesday, Edgar reiterated his administration’s stance on higher education as a reason for full funding for the fiscal year, which starts July 1.

Education has always been our top priority. It continues to be, Edgar said. For the fifth year in a row, the request from higher education for colleges and universities is fully funded.

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Edgar said funds have been used efficiently by Illinois colleges, which prompted him to approve the IBHE’s recommendations.

The sweeping improvements we have seen in Illinois higher education have prompted my recommendations of full funding for Illinois colleges and universities in each of the past five years, Edgar said. I am confident that these investments will yield lasting benefits for all Illinoisans.

SIU President Ted Sanders said he was surprised the governor approved the IBHE’s request to the fullest, especially for the fifth straight year.

The recommendations translate to an overall increase of $12 million for SIU to bring the total to $292.9 million. A 3-percent increase in salaries, as well as $550,000 for retaining critical faculty and staff, also were appropriated.

The increase in salaries is critical for SIU to stay competitive with other universities, Sanders said.

Faculty and staff are really the University. It is not the bricks and mortar, he said. When you take a look at faculty salaries here compared to other senior institutions, they are not comparable.

The $550,000 for faculty retention is also imperative, Sanders said.

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We’re not asking for $550,000 for across-the-board adjustment, he said. We’re looking at it to be used in a targeted fashion so that we can collectively use it to hold important faculty in Carbondale.

SIU’s capital budget received $18 million, ensuring improvements to Anthony Hall’s 30-year-old heating and cooling pipes. However, other essential projects such as the completion of the basement in the Communications Building have to be delayed because they were ranked low on the governor’s priority list.

Joe Foote, dean of the College of Mass Communications and Media Arts, expressed disappointment at the bypassing of the remodeling project.

There’s a dire need for this, Foote said. We have a space in our basement that is clearly substandard and has been for many years.

The incompletion has not hampered the college, Foote said.

We have a highly-regarded cinema program considering the facilities where they have been educated, Foote said. Remodeling would allow us to serve more students better, not just for cosmetic change but also as a way of creating additional space for students’ laboratory work.

Sanders said the Communications Building’s basement must be completed to attract students to the college and said it should be within the range of fundable projects next year.

It is an eyesore, he said. They are not good working conditions. It is a major problem and it needs to be addressed. It is not conducive when we are trying to recruit students into the College of Mass Communications.

If I were bringing a student in to take a look at the facility and what we could offer, I would steer them away from that part of the building.

With the remodeling not occurring this year, Foote said he hoped the project would be at the top of next year’s list.

Now that Edgar has approved the recommendations, the next step is for them to pass the Senate Appropriations Committee. Sanders said he hopes the legislature does not challenge the governor’s recommendations.

Anything they do to this would rewrite the priorities, which may mean they rewrite them in ways where things that are less important to us would receive priorities over things that are more important to us, Sanders said. It will make a difficult situation even worse.