Regent: governor's budget falls short on health care costs

Staff

Published Tuesday, March 27, 2001

Gov.

Tuesday, March 27, 2001

Gov. Jesse Ventura's proposed budget for the University of Minnesota may not cover rising health insurance costs, let alone facilitate the college's mission of teaching, research and outreach, Regent Dallas Bohnsack told members of the Albert Lea noon Kiwanis club Tuesday.

Without money for high-tech classrooms, quality staff and reasonable health care, the university will not be able to succeed. With current salary rates, the university's medical school cannot compete with the public sector, he said.

"Good teaching doctors are leaving the practice of teaching, because they can do much better in private practice," he said.

If the university does not offer students the opportunity of an exceptional learning environment, the state economy will suffer, he said.

"If you don't bring in great students with great ambitions, you'll never succeed," he said.

The university is the "engine that drives the states economy," by providing 10,000 graduates yearly, as well as research patents and economic development, Bohnsack said. But meager budget proposals will not allow the university to forge ahead with technological, design, new media, molecular and cellular biology initiatives.

Bohnsack appealed to the 560 registered University of Minnesota alumni from Albert Lea to contact their legislators and tell them how important university funding is to them.

Ventura's budget proposal calls for about $200 million less than the university requested. U of M officials say faculty and program cuts are looming if the governors budget passes unchanged.

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