Lack Of State Budget Leads Regents To Cancel Meeting

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- No state budget means no meeting for the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.<br/><br/>The regents typically meet the last day of every legislative session to consider appropriations

Thursday, May 25th 2006, 6:31 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- No state budget means no meeting for the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.

The regents typically meet the last day of every legislative session to consider appropriations from the Legislature and allocations to individual colleges.

But regents spokesman Ben Hardcastle says the board has no money to allocate. Hardcastle says even if a deal is reached Thursday or Friday, it will be too late for regents and staff to prepare for a meeting.

Oklahoma's public colleges and universities cannot plan for tuition increases until they know what allocations they will get.

Some college presidents have said that without $123-million in new money requested by the regents, tuition could go up 10 percent or more.

Governor Brad Henry says he'll call a special legislative session if lawmakers fail to approve a budget for the 2007 fiscal year, which begins July 1st.