Ed School Avoids Projected Deficit

Unexpected fundraising success and stringent belt-tightening have put the Graduate School of Education in the black, despite earlier projections that it would finish the last fiscal year with as much as a $400,000 deficit.

Some of the cost-cutting measures--implemented this year--aroused considerable student and faculty outcry when they were announced last spring, but a year later most are calling the efforts successful.

Traditionally one of the poorer faculties--with a budget of about $8 million annually--the Ed School is projecting a $25,000 surplus for the 1984 fiscal year which ended June 30. Associate Dean Jerome T. Murphy said this week.

Because of the surplus and the lingering effects of the cuts, the Ed School will not have to cut its budget again this year and will be able to afford a small increase and is projecting another small surplus next June, said Murphy.

Explanations

Officials have cited four explanations for the school's financial turnaround.

* Cutbacks totaling $275,000 which included laying off nine faculty members and administrators, reducing the hours of 15 others, cutting department budgets and reducing student services such as library hours.

* Additional tuition revenue due to higher than expected enrollment.

* A 10 percent increase in government grants and contracts, bringing the amount of federal money received to $10,000.

* Successful fundraising appeals to alumni.

Dry Alumni

Past fundraising drives did little to boost the school's financial coffers, but this year's effort got a noticeable shot in the arm from Harvard Corporation Member Hugh Calkins '45, who went stumping for the school.

When the cutbacks were first announced in the spring of 1983, students protested loudly prompting the formation of a student committee to air complaints and advise administrators.

Among other victories, the committee succeeded in reversing the drastic reduction in library hours.

Both administrators and students praised the advisory process. "There were several times what was said at meetings changed administrators opinions on certain issues," said Franeesca Gallucio Steele, a fourth year Ph. D. candidate and one of the founders of the student committee.

Murphy said the improving financial condition had created "a new enthusiasm in the school." Gallucio Steele and other students on the committee agreed, saying that under Dean Patricia A. Graham--who has been on the job for only two years--morale among students and faculty has dramatically improved.

Murphy said that while he was pleasantly surprised by this year's surplus and was projecting another small one for next year, the school would continue to "run a lean ship for the next few years," avoiding the addition of any major programs.

While many of the positions eliminated in last years belt-tightening have not been reinstated. Murphy said the school has not implemented a complete hiring freeze and is continuing to expand slowly.

The school's biggest financial problems are its tiny endowment and deferred maintenance costs on several buildings, officials said.

Harold M. Putnam, an Ed School financial officer said he thought the school would be able to meet general operating expenses for the next few years, but that the school was still trying to figure out how to pay for the long overdue maintenance.