Proposed reductions to the University System of Georgia of approximately $900 million could mean the end of 4-H programs in the state and a reduction of roughly $9 million to Georgia Perimeter College.

4-H

The reductions would eliminate all 4-H programs throughout the state, close five 4-H facilities, including Rock Eagle. The proposed cuts would also close half of the state's county extension offices, 79 of them, and eliminating 169 positions, and would affect a new initiative called the Archway project.

Extension agencies are a part of the University of Georgia, which would see a cut of roughly $60 million (12.8 percent). The extension agencies are targeted to take $11.6 million, or 33.3 percent, of their budget. While being only 7.6 percent of the total budget for UGA, 20 percent of the total proposed cut would come from extension services.

Rockdale County Extension Coordinator Jule-Lynne Macie said "This is a total shock to everybody. The legislature asked for (the cuts) last week, and it was released Monday." She added that there was no consultation with the colleges, such as the College of Agriculture, and pointed out that the cuts go against the mission of a land-grant university like UGA, part of which is to offer an extension program.

The Rockdale County Cooperative Extension office employs four people and the Rockdale County 4-H program has 1,100 members. "It's one of the few organizations that a child can be in that requires no money. The community supports 4H for those things a child can't afford to be in." said Macie.

She added said anyone who wanted to give feedback to their local legislators needed to do it quickly.

"We've gotten a lot of positive support from the legislature and we appreciate that. But it needs to keep coming. Nothing's finalized and we still don't know what's going to happen," she said.

"We've been able to make all the budget cuts the legislature's asked. We've done what we've been asked to do," said Macie. "If this cut does happen, that means cooperative extension will have taken a 51 percent cut in the budget in the last two years. we can't operate that way."

GPC

The cuts at Georgia Perimeter College wouldn't eliminate the school from Newton County, but it would increase the average class size, which according to a University System Board of Regents Budget Summary, could reduce academic quality due to an overload on faculty. The budget summary also suggested that since a big advantage of a two-year school is the individual attention offered students, this could cause a decrease in student success. The proposed cuts would also freeze 50 non-faculty positions, on top of the 60 GPC has already cut. The cuts in staff show themselves in the lack of services to students.

There is also a call for a reduction of certain academic programs such as ESL (English as a second language) and fire management, as well as the reduction of part-time, overtime and student assistant compensation, which would directly affect computer labs and tutoring centers.

Two furlough days have been proposed as has an increase in faculty workload, requiring instructors to teach additional classes. Lastly, the proposed budget wants GPC to reduce operating costs. Marketing, technology and other operating budgets have already been cut by approximately $400,000.

Two furlough days have been proposed as has an increase in faculty workload, requiring instructors to teach additional classes. The proposed budget also wants GPC to reduce operating costs. Marketing, technology and other operating budgets have already been cut by approximately $400,000.

"At the moment these are proposed cuts," said Ryan Carruth, Executive Vice President for Financial and Administrative Affairs for GPC. "We don't know the final numbers but a cut of this magnitude is devastating."

State Representative Doug Holt explained, "The University System is actually an independent authority of the state, so while we in the legislature set the overall budget for them, all we do more or less is cut them a check, and they decide how the money will be used. We can't tell them specifically what to cut or not cut. What you've been hearing about comes from the fact that the Appropriations committees of the House and Senate requested that the University System lay out a proposal of how they would handle a cut to their budget. The Chancellor and Board of Regents came back with what they think should be cut first."

Michelle Kim contributed to the reporting for this article.