After losing about $214 million to state budget cuts this year, the UW is preparing for the potential of another devastating blow. According to Washington’s Office of Financial Management (OFM), if Initiative 1033 passes this fall, institutions of higher education will see their funding drop dramatically.

Initiative 1033 was proposed and will appear on November’s ballot. The initiative would cap the annual growth of state, city and county general fund revenue to the rate of inflation and population growth. Any general fund revenue exceeding this amount would be used to lower property taxes.

OFM officials estimate that I-1033 would reduce state general fund revenues that support health, social, education and environmental services by $5.9 billion in the next six years. And, since funding for K-12 public schools is constitutionally protected, disproportionate cuts would likely fall on state universities.

“We could lose about the same amount of money we lost [this biennium], which is a couple million dollars,” said Randy Hodgins, vice president of the Office of External Affairs for the UW, referring to the analysis of I-1033 prepared by the state Office of Financial Management. “That will result in less faculty, less staff, and is certainly going to inhibit our ability to serve our students.”

Taking that into account, as well as the method for distributing cuts for the 2009-2011 biennium, UW Vice Provost Paul Jenny estimates that the UW would lose about $114 million through the 2013 fiscal year.

It seems education officials may have reason to worry: A survey released this month by Rasmussen Reports, a public-opinion polling firm, revealed that 40 percent of voters would probably favor I-1033, while 21 percent would definitely favor it. This means the legislation has 61 percent of voters on its side, which will likely get it passed.

Tim Eyman, an initiative sponsor, is behind I-1033.

“Tim Eyman’s Initiative 1033 will mean more cuts, and it will make it nearly impossible to recover from the current reductions,” said Washington Education Association (WEA) spokesman Rich Wood. “We’ll never catch up under I-1033. That means larger class sizes and higher tuition for students. That’s why WEA members, including faculty at the regional universities, oppose I-1033.”

Supporters of Eyman’s initiative believe it will give citizens a much-needed relief from property taxes during these tough economic times and allow more people to afford homes.

According to The Seattle Times, at a news conference in July, Eyman promoted his proposal by explaining: “Property taxes keep growing faster and faster, and government keeps getting bigger and bigger. The people are losing control.”

University officials aren’t sure how they’d deal with the effects of Initiative 1033 passing, but they worry that the necessary decisions would resemble those made last year.

“The UW just experienced the largest single budget cut in the state’s history, and one of the largest in the nation,” UW President Mark Emmert said. “In response to this huge cut, we had to reduce staff and faculty positions, leave a large number of positions unfilled, shrink operating budgets, freeze salaries and increase tuition. Should we have another cut because of I-1033, we would likely have to take a similar approach.”

Despite the possibly large impacts of this initiative, Hodgins said that discussions about it are lackluster.

“This isn’t on people’s radars screen as much as it should be given the implications,” he said.

Reach reporter Katie McVicker at news@dailyuw.com.