A new two-year appropriations budget adopted by the Indiana General Assembly last Friday, April 28, contains good news for the Purdue University Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (ADDL). A key priority for the laboratory was to make the case for increased state funding to support its mission of helping Indiana veterinarians, animal health officials, livestock producers, and animal owners in protecting the health of the animal population by providing prompt, accurate, and reliable diagnoses of animal diseases, including those that may affect the human population.
The ADDL is an individual line item in the state budget. The new two-year state budget increases the laboratory’s annual appropriation to $5 million per fiscal year, which represents an increase of $1,288,439 per fiscal year. The ADDL also was included in the budget for Purdue capital projects and capital appropriations, to the tune of $5 million for laboratory upgrades.
Other specific line items in the state budget related to Purdue that received increases in annual appropriations include County Agricultural Extension Educators (funding raised to $8 million per fiscal year) and Agricultural Research and Extension – Crossroads (funding raised to $9 million per fiscal year). Purdue also received funding for other capital projects and capital appropriations, besides the ADDL upgrades, including the Purdue Fort Wayne School of Music building ($15 million); regional deferred maintenance ($4,224,138); and repair and rehabilitation ($15,101,111 per fiscal year).
Overall, the new state budget provides a 4% increase in operating funding for Purdue for fiscal year 2024 and a 6% increase for FY 2025 – the most significant infusion of new dollars in operating appropriations that higher education in the state has received in many years. A portion of that operating funding is contingent on the Indiana Commission for Higher Education adopting its new Outcomes-based Performance Funding formula, which is expected in the next few months. The new state budget also includes funding for the ongoing establishment of Purdue University in Indianapolis and construction of the Clinical Education Building for Pharmacy and Nursing.
Source: purdue.edu
Photo Credit: GettyImages-SinArtCreative
Categories: Indiana, Livestock