ISU vice president for Extension and Outreach Jack Payne announced a plan Thursday to restructure ISU Extension in a videotaped announcement. About 90 minutes before informing the media, he informed all staff and county extension council members streamlining the organization will address part of the $38 million in state budget cuts the university is anticipating.
"The current economic downturn forces us to change the way we do business," Payne said. "The Extension leadership team has listened to the desires of Iowans, and the ideas of our staff and council members, to create a plan that will strengthen the organization for years to come."
Going into the restructuring process, he said he knew ISU Extension would have a permanent cut of roughly 10.7 percent in state appropriations. The finalized state budget, passed Sunday, April 26, by the Iowa General Assembly, cut ISU Extension appropriations by $4.15 million.
The restructuring plan will consolidate Extension's field administration, and will move the organization from a geographically based structure to an issue-based model. Payne said the plan will reduce administrative costs, increase local control of county funds allocated for Extension services, and increase research and staff engagement across university disciplines in order to address complex issues important to Iowa.
All five area offices will be closed, and all of the county education director positions will be eliminated as part of the plan. In their place, 20 regional positions will be created.
Under the plan for restructuring, County Extension Councils will be relied upon to continue providing citizens with access to ISU resources: research, professional staff, educational programs and curricula. Iowa Code Chapter 176A defines the role of the Extension council as: "disseminating among the people of Iowa useful and practical information on subjects relating to agriculture, home economics, and community and economic development, and to encourage the application of the information in the counties of the state through extension work to be carried on in cooperation with Iowa State University."
Iowa Code also requires Extension councils to enter into memoranda of understanding with the Extension service. The restructuring plan states a new memorandum of understanding will be signed between Extension and the Extension councils. In it:
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* Accept responsibility for the preparation, adoption, delivery and periodic review of the Extension District's program
* Maintain accurate and complete financial records consistent with the Code of Iowa
* Carry out such other duties and responsibilities as are outlined in Chapter 176A and other appropriate sections of the Code of Iowa
* Pay ISU Extension an access fee for system-wide services
The existing memorandum of understanding will be voided and the new memorandum enforced July 1, unless the current county Extension education director position is up for retirement. In those cases, the new memorandum of understanding will go into affect the day after the retirement.
The new memorandum of understanding will allow counties to reinvest the partnership fee funds it used to pay to the university toward staffing and programming to meet local needs. County Extension Councils will have the ability to directly apply county property tax money to their perceived local priorities.
Counties may choose to hire staff on their own, or pool their resources and collectively hire staff with another county. Office assistants, bookkeepers and program coordinators will be paid directly. Program specialists will be paid by ISU, which will be reimbursed by the counties based on the percentage of time allocated to the county.
"In the plan, the current Partnership Agreement between Iowa State University and the County Extension Councils is dissolved, and the partnership fee associated with it will no longer be paid to Iowa State University," Payne said. "This allows Extension Councils to retain county funds allocated for Extension services for investment in staff and programs. It gives counties the continued local Extension presence they've told us they want."
The plan also calls for cuts to the Extension campus program and support units, which will result in roughly 25 additional staff reductions.
Iowa's 4-H youth programs will also see major impacts from the restructuring plan. They will be merged with the families program.
Payne said the goal of this move was to increase efficiencies and strengthen the units to better address the "complex issues faced by families and youth, and business and communities." He said merging the programs will bring together the research of several disciplines and provide a more effective way to distribute the resources.
"Iowa State University and Extension Councils will work together to change our methods, but not our mission," he added. "This is an innovative and bold restructuring. It meets the financial realities we are facing, and creates a flexible organization that is positioned to maintain its leadership role as one of the best Extension systems in the nation."
For more information about the restructuring plan, visit www.extension.iastate.edu/restructuring online. To see a video of Payne's address to Extension offices, go to www.extension.iastate.edu/restructuring/video.htm online.
