By KEVIN WALKER
Michigan Correspondent
 
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Gov. Rick Snyder is giving Michigan State University’s extension service the respect and regard it’s been seeking for some time. In proposing a 15 percent cut in extension and AgBioResearch funding and combining the two programs into one higher education line item, he is treating these institutions on par with all others at MSU.

But, it’s an achievement laced with irony, according to Tom Coon, director of MSU extension. That’s because the respect and due regard are coming on the heels of painful budget cuts.

For the 2010 fiscal year, extension and AgBioResearch – also known as the agricultural experiment station – received 12 percent of its funding from the federal government, 32 percent from the state, 22 percent from counties and 34 percent from various grants. The total was about $91 million from all sources.

Snyder is proposing the state appropriate $52.6 million for FY2012.
That‘s just state money; that compares to a state appropriation of $62.9 million for the current fiscal year. The USDA, too, is proposing to cut its share of MSU extension funding by 5 percent, Coon said.

He also said because of the university’s personnel structure, it’s more likely that extension educators will be laid off than AgBioResearch faculty, and that’s a worry. “We spent two years trying to get ready for this,” he said. “It means we’ll be doing less, but we’ll be able to do our core programs. We’ve had time to prepare how to plan for the reductions.”

Coon said the last governor proposed eliminating extension funding altogether a couple years ago, so the proposed cuts for next fiscal year are hardly devastating. He said it’s sad, though, because there will probably be layoffs.
Problems with extension are percolating up as well as trickling down:
Schoolcraft County in the Upper Peninsula (U.P.) will probably see its extension office close by the end of March. That’s because last week voters there turned down a millage that would have kept the service open. It failed, 59-41 percent.
Dave Andersen, an extension educator in Schoolcraft County, said the county board of commissioners could pass some emergency funding to keep the office open, but if it doesn’t it will close.

“It will close, is my opinion,” he said. “I don’t think anyone made any contingency plans. Everyone here thought it would pass. I thought it would pass. It’s a loss to the citizens if it doesn’t stay open.”

Andersen said it will be especially difficult because the office will close just as the busy season gets under way. If it does close he said staff will likely be shuffled around to different counties’ extension offices. “We’re kind of getting hit from three sides,” Coon said. “How it’s going to play out in the counties will differ county to county. It’s certainly possible that we’ll have to lay off some county educator positions.”

All counties in the state have an extension office right now except for Keweenaw in the U.P., which uses the one in neighboring Houghton County.
Martin Nagelkirk, an extension educator in Sanilac County, expressed his concerns about money matters last week as he was heading to a meeting. “Yeah, it’s a concern all right,” he said. “Sure, it would have a large impact because extension is so invested in people. Right now we’re talking about jobs again. I’ve been around a while, so it might not affect me, but it would affect coworkers in the office – so it would affect me either way.”