Dalrymple seeks $68 million for UND med school

Gov. Jack Dalrymple’s budget proposal gives UND’s medical school $68 million for its expansion plans — more than the stripped-down option initially supported by the State Board of Higher Education but less than the school’s $124 million “Rolls Royce” option.

“We felt that was a wise expenditure,” Dalrymple said during a meeting Friday with the Herald editorial board.

The option favored in his recommendations adds a five-story, 169,000-square-foot addition on the north side of School of Medicine and Health Sciences for new education space. The older building, a converted hospital, will have 48,300 square feet in renovated area.

The $124 million option called for the construction of a 377,000-square-foot building, with the school’s present two buildings no longer be used.

Dalrymple said it was not necessary to move out of that space.

“That older building is very solid,” he said. “It’s not going to fall down.”

The medical school expansion is the biggest item among $128 million in spending focused on Grand Forks.

Dalrymple presented his budget recommendations in Bismarck on Thursday, calling for $12.8 billion in spending in the coming biennium.

Higher education

The money pegged for Grand Forks will go largely to university needs.

It provides $12 million for renovations of the law school and $18.4 million for campus operations. It also devotes $12 million for the Research ND program, to be shared by UND and North Dakota State University. That effort replaces the Centers of Excellence initiative to create ties between universities and businesses.

Another $10 million is designated for matching grants in the Education Challenge program aimed at encouraging private gifts to higher education.

The budget also provides $500,000 for Air Force base retention.

Funding system

Dalrymple also touted his budget proposal’s new system for funding universities based on course completion instead of enrollment. So far, it has support from the presidents of UND and NDSU and the state board, and Dalrymple said it could smooth over disagreements over university funding that have been common.

“It removes all of the arm-waving about how it’s unfair,” he said. “It’s transparent, understandable and utterly equitable.”

Dalrymple’s budget proposal for the university system’s administration is short of the expansion supported by Chancellor Hamid Shirvani. He has said system needs another 30 full-time employees in its administration, which now has 26 people.

Dalrymple recommends only seven new full-time staff. He said when Shirvani was hired last spring it coincided with scandals over Dickinson State University’s enrollment reporting and degrees for unqualified foreign students.

At that time, there was a greater demand for compliance oversight within the university system that that the state of the schools does not justify now, Dalrymple said.

“We are not convinced we have any epidemic out there,” he said.

Call Bjorke at (701) 780-1117; (800) 477-6572, ext. 1117; or send e-mail to cbjorke@gfherald.com.

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