Education cuts tops in nation
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) – Leaders of 18 state-supported colleges and universities are eyeing potential tuition hikes, layoffs and service cutbacks while rallying opposition against Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposal to slash their funding more than 50 percent – considered the largest such proposed cut in higher education in the country this year.
In his first budget address Tuesday, Corbett called for $625 million in funding cuts for the 14 state-owned schools that make up the State System of Higher Education, and the “state-related” schools of Penn State, Pittsburgh, Lincoln and Temple. Those cuts represented the lion’s share of a 43 percent reduction in funding for higher education in Corbett’s budget for the fiscal year that starts in July.
School administrators said they had expected cuts, but not such deep ones.
“This is devastating news that could fundamentally change Penn State and our sister institutions in the state and have major negative impacts for the citizens of Pennsylvania and their families,” Penn State President Graham Spanier said at a news conference Wednesday.
Corbett, a Republican, campaigned last year on a pledge not to raise taxes. He kept that promise in his $27.3 billion budget, which also would shrink overall state spending 3 percent and cut spending for public schools by $1 billion.
Spanier’s office said the higher-education cuts actually totaled closer to $660 million when taking into account cuts at medical schools at Penn State, Pitt and Temple.
The Washington-based American Association of State Colleges and Universities said Wednesday that Corbett’s proposal appears to be the biggest such cut in the country this year.
“This signifies a significant shift in policy, largely as a result of a new philosophic direction,” although Corbett has not explained the reasons behind his decision, said G. Terry Madonna, a pollster and professor at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, which is not directly affected by the cuts.
The proposal cuts state appropriations for the state system and the four other universities by roughly half – about a $182 million cut for Penn State. For the state system, the cut would leave $232 million, which officials said was $2.5 million less than the system’s first appropriation in 1983-84.
The presidents of the state-owned universities planned a conference call with system Chancellor John Cavanaugh on Wednesday to discuss potential impacts, spokesman Kenn Marshall said.
“Certainly, we’re going to do everything we can to try and make our case for increased funding,” said Marshall, noting the long budget negotiations process that lies ahead.
In Harrisburg, the union representing the 6,000 faculty members and coaches in the state system released a statement Wednesday calling on students, alumni, faculty, staff and community members “to take action to prevent” the proposed cuts.
The Association of Pennsylvania State College & University Faculties said the cuts could lead to a tuition increase of 33 percent and “decimate the state system.”
“It is abundantly clear that the loss of state funds would have a crushing impact on the hopes and dreams of thousands of Pennsylvania’s working class families,” said APSCUF President Steve Hicks. “The math simply doesn’t work. Our universities have kept tuition extremely affordable largely by cutting back to the essentials. There just isn’t room to cut more.”
On Wednesday, the Philadelphia school district estimated its state funding alone would be reduced by $292 million, or about 10 percent.
It said the proposed cuts would hinder the education of the city’s 200,000 public school students and jeopardize the district’s record of eight straight years of rising test scores and charter school expansion.
Penn State and the other state-related schools receive partial funding from state, and do not fall under direct state control.
Spanier noted that Penn State’s appropriations have grown relatively slowly over the last decade – from $324 million in 2002 to $347 million in 2010-11 – while the state budget has grown 41 percent.
“Penn State has not contributed to the state’s budget gap,” he said. “The appropriation to state-related institutions has, I repeat, NOT contributed to the budget deficit that Pennsylvania is now facing. Not one penny.”
Most of the state funding for Penn State, Spanier said, subsidizes in-state students so they pay less tuition than out-of-state residents. For instance, Pennsylvania residents who are freshmen or sophomores pay about $14,400 per academic year, twice as less as the roughly $26,200 for non-Pennsylvania residents.
Spanier said “everything will be put on the table,” including layoffs, when Penn State officials discuss how to absorb the cuts.
“Certainly, there would be a tuition increase, and it would be higher than what we were anticipating,” he said. “But we should be very clear about something, we cannot expect our students … to bear the lion’s share of this cut.”
AP
03/09/11 18:17