Ohio State’s budget is being cut in an effort to solve the state’s public education funding problem, said Rep. Amy Salerno, R-Columbus. House Bill 650, which requires 0.5 percent budget cuts for all Ohio public universities and up to 3 percent cuts in the budgets of various other state agencies for fiscal year 1999, passed in the House of Representatives on Jan. 12. The Senate has until Feb. 4 to decide on the bill.The money generated from these cuts will go toward primary and secondary education funding, Salerno said.Last year, the Ohio Supreme Court declared the way public school systems are funded unconstitutional and ordered the legislature to come up with a plan to solve the problem by March 24. Some possible ways to create a fair school-funding budget that have been discussed are raising taxes and cutting the budgets of state agencies.”I’m proud to have supported this bill because is serves as a first step toward an overall school funding solution,” Salerno said in a press release. “It means more money for schools right now where they need it most.”The reduction in next year’s budget means OSU will lose $1.5 million of its $650 million state subsidy, said Bill Shkurti, vice president of finance. Despite the decrease of funds, OSU will not have to eliminate any programs, but existing programs will not be able to expand next year, Shkurti said.Tuition will also not be affected, said Colleen O’Brien, director of state relations.”As for this academic year, we’re not going to see (tuition) increase,” O’Brien said. “With the one-half percent cut we can keep things as is.” Some students are accepting the budget cut. Most don’t see any reason for concern. Krista Ankeny, a junior majoring in art and technology, said as long as academic programs don’t suffer, she is in favor of the reduction.”I really feel maybe they (the university and legislators) should inform students how important it is for public schools to get this money,” Ankeny said.Emily Pleasant, a 21-year-old senior majoring in wildlife management, knows first-hand how public schools are suffering.”My father is a high school principal from a small town and I know they feel the hurt,” she said. “Whatever money they can use will be great.”Even though OSU will not receive as much money next year as administrators had hoped, OSU should still be able to function without making major cuts elsewhere, Shkurti said.”If there are no other unpleasant surprises, we would be able to balance the budget for the university for fiscal year 1999 without reducing the budget for other units (academic and supportive) and also offer a competitive pay package for faculty, staff and student employees,” Shkurti said.Salerno points out that although universities are taking a cut in their budgets for next year, they are still experiencing about a 3.5 percent increase over last year’s budget of $2.2 billion.Shkurti and other administrators at OSU are generally not happy with the budget cuts, but they agree that something needs to be done to help solve the problem of education funding.”We’re trying to take a long-term view of what’s better off for the university,” Shkurti said. “The bill in the legislature is the best alternative.”