Maryland's
economic future needs more than "a bump"
By Jim Rosapepe
When the Maryland
legislature votes next week on the governor's veto of the tuition cap bill, HB
1188, opponents of the bill no doubt will argue that it isn't needed because
the governor has said he'll give higher education "a bump," rumored
to be about $30 million, in the coming year's budget.
If the governor stops cutting the universities' budgets,
that certainly will be a step in the right direction. In just two years, he has
cut it by more than $120 million -- forcing tuition hikes of 30%, bigger
classes and layoffs of professors and staff.
The results have been awful -- world class engineering and
biomedical researchers have been lured way by schools such as Purdue and Wake Forest,
average SAT scores of incoming freshmen have dropped, and, for the first time
in 7 years, UMCP’s ranking by the US News and World Report has dropped.
I will applaud the governor if, finding Maryland's public universities in a deep
hole, he stops digging.
But, after $120 million in cuts and expecting 16,000
additional students by fall 2008, the university system needs a lot more money
-- and a lot more certainty -- than a one year "bump." $30 million
for one year is a long way from what our state needs to be competitive in
today's knowledge economy.
Here's what the one year "bump" plan does NOT do:
-- It does NOT restore the $120 million in cuts already made
-- It does NOT control tuition (and I can assure you there
are members of the Board of Regents --not including me -- who want to raise
tuition more that 5% EVEN if the state fully funds our budget request)
-- It does NOT provide stability of funding so necessary for
efficient and effective management
-- It does NOT establish the important principle that our
public, four year universities are just as deserving of legislatively mandated
funding as our public schools and community and private colleges (which have
had it for years)
-- It does NOT create a plan to solve the longer term
problem of keeping our public universities world class and affordable
-- It does NOT provide a designated source of funding (thus,
the money will have to come out of other critical public services like K-12
education or health care for the elderly)
In contrast, HB 1188, written under the leadership of Senate
President Mike Miller and House Speaker Mike Busch, provides ALL of these.
It's a well-thought out, 3-year plan to restore recent cuts.
It caps tuition increases for those three years at no more than 5%/year. It establishes
the principle of formula funding for the USM and Morgan State
University, similar to
what the legislature provides our local public schools and community and
private colleges. It sets up a study to figure out a long-term finance plan for
quality, affordable higher education. And it pays for most of the costs with a
modest, three-year surcharge on the corporate income tax rate (which would
remain the second lowest in the region).
Large, bi-partisan majorities in both houses passed HB 1188.
They understood that, in the 21st Century, knowledge is economic power.
"Access to a quality workforce is one the three most
important factors that drive business location decisions," the Greater
Washington Board of Trade recently reported.
"The fact that Maryland
ranks first nationwide in the percentage of adults with Bachelor's degrees and
advanced degrees -- and first in the percentage of professional and technical
workers -- underscores the relationship between our successful higher education
system and Maryland's
emergence as global leader in the New Economy."
That's what recent cuts in the universities' budgets have
put at risk.
Even our well-educated citizens now are losing jobs to
places such as India
and China
because these nations are investing billions in expanding access to quality
education at all levels. The only long-term defense of our standard of living
is to meet the competition head on -- by making sure that Maryland students have affordable access to
world-class higher education, too.
Our public universities –- our people’s surest route to
upward mobility and prosperity -- need more than a "bump." They need
a serious, multi year commitment to decent funding and more reasonable tuition
rates. That's why the legislature should thank him for the governor for his
“bump” –- and then override his veto of HB 1188.
Jim Rosapepe is a member of the Board of Regents of the
University System of Maryland