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By Amy Geiszler-Jones

To help cut $108 million from the state budget, Gov. Graves has ordered a 90-day hiring freeze that will affect classified and unclassified positions at WSU, including faculty vacancies, that weren’t in the process of being filled by Nov. 3.

Mid-year requests for upgrades in classified positions also fall under the governor’s order.

After the initial 90-day freeze expires, a 90-day delay will be put on all positions, meaning that if a job becomes available March 1, it could not be filled until June 1, according to Mike Turner, director of WSU’s Office of Human Resources. The "rolling freeze" will continue until June 30, the end of the fiscal year.

"It’s a pretty good strategy, given our budget situation," Turner said. "It’s painful, but not as painful as some other alternatives, and it does have an ending date. There are still a lot of details and issues to be clarified about the freeze."

State budgets for this fiscal year and the next are shrinking because tax revenues have been lower than expected. Graves has called for a 1 percent budget cut this year, which still needs legislative approval, and state agencies have been told to prepare for cuts in fiscal year 2001 budgets.

Because the hiring freeze also affects temporary positions, the Kansas Department of Administration is advising state agencies to loan staff within their organization.

The administration department is also suggesting agencies review vacant positions and downgrade, if possible, for additional savings.

The only workers generally excluded from the order are those positions in direct care, such as hospitals, or public safety, which includes law enforcement.