Illinois Extension Agricultural Association
Report prepared for
North Central Region Leadership Workshop
February 2-4, 2003
Kansas City, Missouri
Our Association
Illinois Extension Agricultural Association (IEAA) currently has 58 active and 63 life
members. Our state association is divided into four districts, and each district is strongly
encouraged to meet at least quarterly. These meetings normally consist of an educational
activity, followed by a short business meeting. Since life members now outnumber active
members in our organization, they are a most welcome addition to these meetings.
New member solicitation begins at the district level. New employees are encouraged to attend
district meetings and learn first-hand the advantages of association membership. Also, by
encouraging active participation at the local level, we maintain a high level of member retention
once they have initially joined.
IEAA was well represented at the 2002 AM/PIC in Savannah, with 14 active members, five life
members, 14 spouses, and 13 children in attendance. Our membership continues to be active in
the award applications area, and we are doing well at both the regional and national level. IEAA
is sponsoring a breakfast at the 2003 AM/PIC in Green Bay, therefore we expect attendance to
be even better than in 2002. To further encourage AM/PIC attendance, IEAA offers financial
support for voting delegates, first-time attendees, Distinguished Service Award, Achievement
Award, and other national award winners.
Finances
The current budget projections for the State of Illinois indicate a shortfall of 4.8 billion dollars
through FY’04. The Democratic Party now controls the governor’s office for the first time in 25
years, and the budget of University of Illinois remains fluid while the new governor determines
how to deal with the deficit. The governor has until mid-March to present his budget proposal.
The FY’02 General Revenue Funding (GRF) for the University, which comes through the
Illinois Board of Higher Education, contained reductions of approximately 7%. The current
projection for the FY’03 budget is a reduction of 6-8%. Of that 6-8% reduction, 3% may be
internal reallocation to meet mandated merit salary increases, and the additional 3-5% may be a
permanent rescission in funding carried into FY’04.
The County Board Match (CBM) monies are pass-through funds contained within the Illinois
Department of Agriculture (IDOA) budget. These funds support local Extension Unit offices as
well as State funded Unit-based Youth Development educators. FY’03 CBM funding is at 101%
match with local funding sources. CBM funds are still contained within the IDOA budget
proposal for FY’04, however these funds are also under review and the figures won’t be sorted
out until the appropriation process moves through the spring session.
The Joint Council of Extension Professionals (JCEP) serves as an informal umbrella
organization to coordinate the activities for the various Extension professional associations in
Illinois. JCEP actively promotes the importance of Extension programs to state and local funding
sources. Toward this end, they publish the Extension in Action newsletter highlighting important
Extension programming throughout the state. This newsletter is hand delivered to all state
legislators, and is made available to Extension Units to send to their local funding sources.
Staffing
Due to GRF budget uncertainties, all position vacancies associated with this source of funding
are on hold. This includes both center-based Extension educators and campus-based Extension
faculty. The only searches approved at this time are for the West Central Regional Director, and
the Assistant Dean, Extension Program Coordination. The salary lines from vacant positions will
potentially be used to cover the 6-8% budget shortfall mentioned above. It is the intent of the
Director to protect Extension educator positions to the extent possible, but Center budgets are
very tight.
Local Extension Unit position vacancies continue to be filled as they occur because salary
funding for these come from local taxing districts, in most cases through local Extension
referenda. This source of funding has remained stable up to this point, but the potential for tax
caps may mean that inflation will slowly erode this source of funding also.
The Future
Extension Partners, an independent, not-for-profit organization created to advance the interests
of Extension, now has more than 256 individual and organizational members. They were
extremely instrumental in advancing the Extension budget for FY’01-03, and continue to work in
support of Extension budget interests in the FY’04 budget year.
University of Illinois Extension Strategic Agenda – 2003. In an effort to address the long-term
downtrend in Extension funding and core staffing numbers, our Extension Administration has
drafted a new strategic agenda. This agenda proposes the direction we will move toward during
the coming years. Specifically, the document outlines the following seven goals:
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Foster entrepreneurship throughout the organization
Strengthen Extension’s ability to deliver high-quality programming through building
additional Extension educator capacity.
Develop additional mechanisms to tap campus expertise.
Direct programming towards identified critical issues.
Strengthen and evolve historic partnerships.
Strengthen and enhance program delivery partnerships.
Support Extension staff to be successful in the implementation of the strategic agenda.
This strategic agenda is now being discussed at all staffing levels within Extension, and will
undoubtedly receive some fine-tuning and rewording. How it will be implemented will remain a
pressing question for all involved.