Louisiana colleges unlikely to escape cuts in state budget - MELINDA DESLATTE, Daily World

Lawmakers are bristling at the possibility of yet another round of cuts to colleges, after taking a hatchet to higher education financing for years. But with Louisiana struggling through its 14th midyear budget gap in nine years, it seems unlikely campuses can escape unscathed. That number, a tally delivered to the joint House and Senate budget committee, is stunning: Louisiana has closed 13 midyear deficits since the 2008-09 fiscal year. With a $313 million gap facing the governor and lawmakers now, “this makes 14,” Barry Dusse, director of the governor’s Office of Planning and Budget, told the committee. http://www.dailyworld.com/story/news/local/louisiana/2016/11/28/colleges-unlikely-escape-cuts-state-budget/94535396/