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MTA president responds to State of State address

Gov. Mitt Romney's State of the State Address on Education
Response by Catherine A. Boudreau, MTA President
 

"We are pleased that Governor Romney appears to understand how important public education is, but his numbers just don't add up. In his address, he pledges a modest increase in education grants to poor school districts, but that is just a drop in the bucket compared to the quarter-of-a-billion dollars in state education funding cut last year. 

"In addition, while we strongly support the concept of increasing scholarships to college students, we are disturbed that the governor makes no promise to restore the nearly $268 million in funding for public higher education that has been cut over the last three years. 

"Another serious concern is that this plan, like the budget he submitted last year, appears to be based on grossly inflated projections about how much money can be saved by restructuring services.

"We need more than rhetorical support for education from the governor. We need a fiscally sound plan that restores the funds needed to provide students of all ages with a high-quality education.

"Recent studies show that Massachusetts has cut both public schools  [1] and public higher education  [2] by a larger percentage than any other state in the country. That is a distinction we are not proud to hold, and one that should quickly be abandoned.

"Last year alone, state funding for elementary and secondary education was cut by a quarter-of-a-billion dollars: $148 million from Chapter 70 and another $100 million from education grants and reimbursements. Those cuts included deep reductions in early literacy, class size reduction, full-day kindergarten, school breakfasts and MCAS help for students who need it. In addition, last year's budget cut the major categories of unrestricted local aid by $186 million, thereby forcing many cities and towns to slash funding to schools and other municipal services.

"Funding for public higher education was cut by $175 million last year, and has been reduced by $268 million -- or 25 percent -- over the last three years. Adjusted for inflation, the loss was 28 percent. As a result of these cuts, our state and community colleges and the University of Massachusetts have lost full-time faculty, eliminated courses and sharply increased student fees.

"Massachusetts has made great progress in improving education over the past decade. Our students have among the highest SAT scores and highest rates of college attendance in the country. That progress must not stop. We urge all policy-makers on Beacon Hill to stop the cuts, restore funding and fulfill the state's obligation to provide all students with a quality education."

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Notes:

[1] Reschovsky, Andrew, University of Wisconsin - Madison, "The Impact of State Government Fiscal Crises on Local Governments and Schools." The report shows that the change in real per-pupil state aid dropped by 14.3 percent from FY02 to FY04 in Massachusetts, the largest decrease of any state in the country.

[2] Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan. 16, 2004, citing study by James C. Palmer at the Center for the Study of Education Policy, Illinois State University: "Among the states that cut higher-education appropriations this year, the hardest hit were Colorado, South Carolina, and particularly Massachusetts, which had the highest percentage decrease in the nation."