EVMS seeks state funds for its financial health
Published: October 14, 2004
Section: Flavor/Gracious Livingront, page A1
Source: KATRICE HARDY
© 2004- Landmark Communications Inc.
NORFOLK - BY KATRICE HARDY THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT


NORFOLK - Eastern Virginia Medical School has launched a campaign for more state money. The medical school is entitled to $4 million more from the state each year, EVMS leaders contend in a budget request to be delivered to state education and finance officials this week. They'll also make their case to Gov. Mark R. Warner in a meeting next week in Richmond .

Their request will go before the General Assembly in January, when its next lawmaking session begins. Already, EVMS has the support of some state lawmakers.

Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, is expected to help EVMS officials make their pitch to the governor. And Del. Robert Tata, R-Virginia Beach, also plans to help the school.

"EVMS is a major player not only in Norfolk but in the entire Tidewater region," said Tata, vice chairman of the House Education Committee and a member of the Appropriations Committee, which decides which programs will get money. "They've got great research going on, some of which they are leading the area in."

The Norfolk school, which opened in 1973, is among a handful of U.S. medical colleges that either do not own a hospital or are not part of a larger university. Those are characteristics that, some say, have caused EVMS to struggle financially in recent years.

Because it is private, EVMS has never received the same state support as Virginia's other medical schools, an agreement that its founders made in the 1970s with Virginia lawmakers.

This fiscal year, EVMS received about $12 million, or 8 percent of its nearly $150 million budget, from the state . In the past, EVMS has received as much as $14 million from the state. C. Donald Combs, EVMS vice president for planning and program development, said the school would receive $22 million a year from the state if it were funded in the same way as Virginia's other medical institutions.

For a school like EVMS, $4 million would make a huge difference, said Combs and Harry T. Lester, director of the school's Board of Visitors. The school would use the money to increase faculty salaries, hire additional faculty to conduct research, and invest in the equipment and start-up funds those researchers would need, Combs said.

In 2002, EVMS suffered cuts in state funding along with other colleges and universities.

When the economy grew stronger, the state's other medical institutions at the University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University saw their funding increase at a greater percentage, Combs said. EVMS' funding has edged up only slightly, by about 2 percent this fiscal year, which began on July 1, he said.

Combs summarized his argument: "You were very careful in treating us fairly on the way down. We would like to be treated fairly on the way up."

EVMS also plans to argue that a new funding policy adopted earlier this year by the General Assembly's Joint Subcommittee on Higher Education Funding would entitle EVMS to another $5 million a year. That's $1 million more than what it will be asking for, Combs said.

Recent financial problems at EVMS have included budget shortfalls as high as $6.3 million one year, a freeze on employee raises for two years, increases in tuition and the elimination of about 40 positions. EVMS leaders said the money crunch also factored into a decision to sell the Northern Virginia satellite office of the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine .

EVMS tapped one-time revenue sources to balance its budget, an unpredictable way of operating from year to year, officials said.

To rectify the problems, the school's president since 2000 , Dr. J. Sumner Bell, has implemented a long-term financial plan for the school.

EVMS has hired an external auditor, created an audit committee and aimed to no longer balance the budget through one-time sources.

During the last fiscal year, which ended June 30 , EVMS did not have to borrow money to balance the budget, said board member William D. Sessoms.

"We've got the policies in place to handle our finances," he said.

The additional state funds would help the school continue to improve its finances, Combs said.

A decision on EVMS' request is expected by spring.

* Reach Katrice Hardy at 222-5857 or at katrice.franklin@pilotonline.com.