Blunt's higher ed pledge less than inflation rate
Some Democrats in the General Assembly criticized the increase as too small.
Published Jan. 17, 2006
Legislators responded this week to Gov. Matt Blunt's promise in his State of the State address to increase state funding for higher education by 2 percent.
The 2 percent increase, however, is smaller than the inflation rate at most universities.
The announcement pleased legislators from both parties, but Democrats said more money would be needed to stabilize tuition prices at Missouri universities and colleges.
In his speech, Blunt admitted that in prior administrations, public universities and community colleges were "hit with significant cuts," and credited recent success in the state's economy for allowing an increase.
"We have moved from a massive budget shortfall to the first surplus in five years," Blunt said in his speech Wednesday. "This year, my budget calls for a $17 million increase for state colleges and universities, providing them with the resources they need to improve quality and hold back tuition increases."
Since the speech, some members of the Missouri General Assembly have criticized the proposal for not keeping up with increasing university costs.
"I'd like to see education funding keep pace with inflation so that we don't continue to have the massive tuition hikes we've seen in the past four years," Sen. Chuck Graham, D-Columbia, said. "This increase only takes state appropriations back to our 1998 level. They're still not what they were in fiscal year 2002."
Jeff Harris, D-Columbia and the House of Representatives minority leader, echoed Graham's opinion.
"It doesn't even keep up with the rate of inflation," Harris said, also adding that the shortfall would lead to a rise in tuition rates.
Harris said the governor had "misplaced his priorities" and though Blunt was able to increase appropriations by $17 million, he also pledged $50 million to renovating stadiums in Kansas City without legislative approval.
The Higher Education Price Index, a private inflation index developed by the Commonfund Institute, which monitors higher-education costs, indicated that by the end of fiscal year 2005, college prices rose by 3.5 percent and rose 4.6 percent in fiscal year 2004.
Members of both political parties agreed that higher education still needed more appropriations in order to prevent instability in tuition costs.
"We'll have to continue asking for money," Rep. Charles Denison, R-Springfield, said.
But Denison also said he did not believe the money would be available without a tax increase.
Rep. Esther Haywood, D-St. Louis, said repeated cuts were discouraging and she was leery of appropriations increases.
"If it's real, I'm very pleased," Haywood said.
Still, several representatives said they were happy to see higher-education appropriations increase at any rate as opposed to falling as they have in previous fiscal years.
"I think that's a good step forward," Rep. Carl Bearden, R-St. Joseph, said. "You'll find people who are not satisfied, but it's a good step in the right direction."
Addressing fears of budget cuts and rising tuition, Bearden said he was developing a bill to be released at the end of the month that would increase base funding to $1 billion.
"The bill is going to take things back to the fiscal year 2002 level of state appropriations," Bearden said.
He said that the increase would allow for more scholarships for Missouri residents.
UM system spokesman Joe Moore said that the system was grateful not to see a cut. He said that the increase toward the state public universities translated roughly to an added $8 million for the UM system.
"We hope to see that this commitment to higher education is strong into future years," Moore said.