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Some good news, at least for a while
By Ed Muir
My mother, who reads this column, points out that it generally contains little good news. In no small part, that is because it has dealt primarily with the many threats facing federal, state and local finances. Having weathered the worst fiscal crisis since World War II, the balance sheets for state governments are finally starting to return to health, so it is worth pointing out some good news for a change.
An analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities finds that funding for services is showing real improvement, although it still does not match the level from before the crash in 2001. In the third quarter of 2005, state revenue collections were 9 percent above where they were in the third quarter of 2004. That is the eighth quarter in a row of real improvement in revenue. For public colleges and universities, this turnaround couldn’t be more welcome. It means that cuts won’t continue as they had been, and for some states it means the chance to make up lost ground.
Nowhere is this truer than in Colorado. That state had faced a double whammy: a fiscal crisis coupled with a spending cap, the Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR), which limited growth from the previous year’s spending. Had TABOR trends continued, state support for higher education in Colorado would have fallen to zero by 2010. In November, Colorado voters decided to suspend TABOR for five years. This will allow revenue to grow at its natural rate, helping restore some of the cuts. The AFT was a partner in the coalition that supported this move.
In Pennsylvania, a TABOR proposal arose to soothe public outrage after legislators gave themselves a big pay increase last fall. In one scenario TABOR opponents developed, the proposal would have cut state revenue to public colleges by 9 percent in four years. The good news is that concerted action by a coalition including AFT-Pennsylvania helped stop TABOR in its tracks, for now. The legislators lost their pay raises, too.
Who among us is not celebrating the good news out of California, where Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had proposed to voters that they end constitutional guarantees for funding K-12 and higher education in the state? That would have cost community colleges alone some $400 million. This and other anti-union proposals went down to defeat in November. Now the governor has had a change of heart—and political consultants. He is supporting further investment in infrastructure and a higher minimum wage. Although it probably would be better if he supported reforms to end the state’s structural deficit, this is still good news for higher education.
And as governors made their state-of-the-state addresses unveiling policy proposals for 2006, there was still more to praise. Democratic governors, in particular, are making access to college an important issue. In New Mexico, for example, Gov. Bill Richardson is proposing a major expansion to need-based aid through his College Affordability Endowment. This is his plan to fund tuition assistance at public universities and colleges while building up a $50 million endowment that eventually would make the program self-funded.
There still will be battles to fight in 2006. As states experience positive revenue flow, attempts to starve the beast with a new round of tax cuts are beginning again. TABOR forces are flexing their muscles in Wisconsin, Maine, Oklahoma, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon and other states. The federal budget situation is still dire. But it is important to savor the good news.
Ed Muir is an assistant director of the AFT research and information services department.
