On Wednesday, the Governor and State Legislature reached an agreement on the state budget for the next two years. While the agreement is still a serious budget reduction for NSHE overall (11.45%), it is my understanding from Chancellor Klaich that it is about the best situation we could have hoped for given the current financial situation of Nevada. Then late on Thursday, I learned that DRI's annual state appropriation will be $7,421,572, which is a reduction of 9.92 percent from its current level of funding. While this remains a serious budget reduction for DRI and will require additional belt-tightening and necessary adjustments need to be made, a 9.9% reduction is a far cry from the Governor's recommended budget which would have been 25% or more than a $1 million reduction to DRI.

The majority of the Board of Regents' and Chancellor's four-point plan appears to have been accepted and incorporated into the agreement. The Nevada System of Higher Education will receive an additional $40 million each year of the biennium than what was originally proposed. Part of the agreement is a one-time 2.5 percent salary reduction in addition to six furlough days per year for all those employees who are currently on furlough. I am hopeful that after the June Board of Regents meeting we can now put the notion of any consolidation plans to rest. I know this caused many of you to worry about an uncertain future, but in my heart I knew we would remain whole. While uncomfortable at times, this experience did allow us to reinforce our value to our university system and the state's economy.

I do want to thank everyone for their assistance during this past legislative session. We met with dozens of legislators these past few months and this whole process required many at DRI to burn the midnight oil cranking out what seemed like endless reports and materials for the Chancellor, Regents and Legislators. I want to thank everyone for persevering and the work you perform that makes DRI a very special place.