Facing State Budget Cuts

1992-95: Facing State Budget Cuts

Virginia Cooperative Extension faced multiple challenges in the early 1990s under the Wilder and Allen gubernatorial administrations.

First, Gov. Doug Wilder’s 1992 proposal for the 1993-94 budget proposed a massive “$12.2 million (cut) from the Extension Service’s $38 million-a-year budget by 1994,” potentially resulting in the loss of 80 out of 308 Extension agents statewide. The cuts threatened to gut broad swathes of programming, disproportionately affecting urban and suburban communities in Northern Virginia, though agricultural programs would “suffer a 22 percent” cut, as well. Immediate fallout resulted in the loss of an ANR agent in Suffolk who was the first hired following a hiring freeze in January 1990. Localities were able to fill a few critical positions in early 1990, but only on the stipulation that local government would pick up their salaries if state funding was lost. Ultimately, intense lobbying within the legislature meant that at least some of the cuts would be reversed. As one Feb. 18 article in the Roanoke Times noted, the legislature approved the restoration of around half of the cut funds for 1993, with the opportunity to request more the subsequent year.

The problem would reemerge under Gov. George Allen in 1995. Under the aegis of a large tax cut plan, Allen proposed several spending cuts, including $12.4 million from Extension. Once again, constituents pushed back. A Washington Post article described Virginia House Majority Leader C. Richard Cranwell as “holding up 877 letters from constituents opposing Allen’s (budget) plans.” The result was that in both the House and Senate proposals, the budget cuts to Extension were almost entirely reversed.

That said, 1995 also saw a codification of Extension’s narrower mandate. In the General Assembly appropriations act, a statement was made that “it is in the intent of the General Assembly that the Cooperative Extension Service gives highest priority to programs which comprised the original mission of the Extension Service, especially agriculture at the local level.” Even as Extension avoided devastating cuts, questions of which programs ought to be preserved and how VCE’s scope should be defined remained pertinent.

Audio Files:

Former Director Jim Johnson talks about dealing with the Wilder budget cuts as his greatest challenge as VCE director.

Associate Director of Youth, Families, and Health Cathy Sutphin talks about how budget cuts changed agents’ work during this time.

References