Against a backdrop of red--budget deficits compounded by continuing revenue shortfalls--states are engaged in an act of take-back and renege. Public services, health and welfare benefits, quality education at all levels, even corrections programs, all are feeling the blade. Frequently, higher education leads the pack of most vulnerable programs.

At the beginning of February, 36 states were looking to close a total $25.7 billion budget gap for fiscal year 2003, according to a January survey of the National Conference of State Legislatures. The gap was over and above the $49.1 billion in reductions states had made in preparing their 2003 budgets in the first place. And 30 states report continued apprehension about the need to close further holes before the end of the fiscal year.

The actions states are taking to bring their budgets into balance include across-the-board cuts (29 states) and cuts in state programs, such as higher education (13 states), Medicaid (13 states), elementary-secondary education (nine states), corrections (nine states) and local revenue sharing (nine states). Eight states have made layoffs, and five states have furloughed public employees.

Two states have gone so far as to ignore negotiated agreements with their public employee unions. First it was Massachusetts, where last summer, former Gov. Jane Swift vetoed all the raises that had been negotiated by the eight unions representing staff and faculty in the University of Massachusetts system. Those unions have organized a coalition, Higher Education Unions United, that is fighting for funding with rallies, lobbying, picketing and public education campaigns. The latest news from the commonwealth is that Gov. Mitt Romney is floating a plan to reorganize public higher education in the state and find a savings of $150 million through more layoffs, tuition hikes and budget cuts. Most of the unions see the reorganization as an elaborate cover for a "$150 million cut, not a 'savings,'" says Dan Georgianna, president of the University of Massachusetts Faculty Federation at Dartmouth.

In Wisconsin, certain political leaders are trying to renege on the contracts negotiated for more than 30,000 public employees over the last two years, including the Teaching Assistants Association/AFT at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. In mid-February, the Joint Committee on Employment Relations of the state Legislature voted to reject six contracts negotiated for the 2001-03 period. The committee, made up of six Republicans and two Democrats, refused to allow the contracts to move to the floor of the Legislature, "where we know they would pass," says Robert Beglinger, president of the Wisconsin Federation of Teachers. Wisconsin is looking at a $3.2 billion deficit for 2003-05. The university system has been cut by 25 percent. Gov. Jim Doyle is proposing a massive downsizing of government, closing tax loopholes, but not adding new taxes as the solution to revenue shortfalls.

In New York, the unions and communities at the two major university systems--the State University of New York and the City University of New York--are responding to budget cuts and tuition hikes with rallies and repeated forays to the Statehouse in Albany. Gov. George Pataki's plan would cut 4,000 SUNY jobs and many programs, says United University Professions/AFT president William Scheuerman, who is also an AFT vice president. The union maintains that the system is underfunded and has been for years. Tuition increases are not a substitute for state support.

Gov. Gray Davis and the California Legislature are looking for a way to close a $35 billion deficit. The California Federation of Teachers and its locals are dealing with "truly staggering" proposed cuts, says the CFT. The community colleges would be cut by $179.4 million. In January, Local 2121--the San Francisco Community College Federation of Teachers--negotiated an 18-month deferral on 2 percent salary increases until June 30, 2004. And the state is proposing furloughing administrators in the Los Angeles Community College District for up to three weeks. All the college districts are making massive cuts in programs, classes, summer school, staff and student support; and the districts are raising student fees, which also raises concerns that tens of thousands of students will be kept out of school.

Montana is planning to raise public university tuition by 10 percent in each of the next two years and cut higher education funding by more than $40 million. At a Feb. 14 press conference protesting the measures, University of Montana political science professor Paul Haber called for the application of "intelligent revenue increases" to address a problem that has been in the making for a decade. "In 1992, the state appropriated about $3 for every $1 paid by students for higher education," he noted. "By 2002, the situation had reversed, with students now paying $3 dollars for every $1 dollar the state pays." The Montana Education Association-Montana Federation of Teachers--a merged state federation--held rallies across the state in March. [Barbara McKenna / AFT On Campus]

[April 16, 2003]