11.25.2003
REPORT: State Spending On Prisons Higher Than On Higher Ed
The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation Monday released a bulletin stating that for the first time in several decades, state spending on prison has outpaced that of higher education.
"Although the importance of public higher education to Massachusetts' economic future is widely recognized, state support for its 29 university and college campuses has been wildly inconsistent," writes the organization, pointing readers to a chart adjusted for inflation. "In a financially driven pattern that was first established in the state fiscal crisis of the late 1980s, appropriations for higher education have sustained two rounds of steep cuts - $222 million, or 29 percent, in fiscal 1988-1992 and $293 million, or 27 percent, in 2001-2004... In each case, the cuts wiped out much of the increases of the previous decade; after adjusting for inflation, the latest cuts have reduced state support to approximately the level of thirty years ago."
The report continues: "At the same time, higher education spending as a percent of the total budget has dropped from 6.5 percent in 1988 - the previous peak in higher education funding - to less than 3.5 percent in 2004. This year's state budget for higher education, including appropriations for the campuses and student financial aid, totals only $816 million, compared to $830 million for prisons and jails..."
On UMass, whose funding is 23% today, the MTF says, "Despite repeated financial shocks, higher education officials have been able to stregthen academic programs, improve accountability, and lower student costs, especially in the last decade. Unfortunately, the recent controversy over who should lead the University of Massachusetts - which dominated the 2004 budget debate - obscured not only the gains that have been made throughout the system but also the huge cuts in appropriations at every institution. The resulting dissarray in the system is profound, with campuses unable to honor previously negotiated faculty pay raises, long overdue capital improvements put on hold, entire academic programs jeopardized by the impacts of early retirement incentives that were intended as a less painful alternative to layoffs, and tens of thousands of students and parents scrambling to deal with unexpected hikes in tuitions and fees..."
The second half deals with the prison system and its costs. The entire bulletin can be obtained here, in pdf form.
AP has an article up.
State House News Service has this: "The surge in spending on prisons and jails is a nationwide trend, and states strapped for cash are beginning to more seriously question 'tough on crime' policies such as lengthy mandatory minimum sentencing, according to the report.
States are also increasingly restoring early parole and treatment plans for some drug offenders..."
MORE: The other week State Senator Brian Joyce came to UMass Boston for a talk, and had this to say:
"We've seen a retreat. We've seen the funding for this university the last couple years not made the priority that it has been in the past... And I think, again, that's not just poor social policy. It's poor economic policy..."
AND MORE: It made the front page of the Boston Herald today: "For the first time in decades, Massachusetts is poised to spend more on convicts than colleges - pumping millions into prisons while cutting back on cash for public higher education classrooms..."
And the Globe's Marcella Bombardieri had an article.
"Although the importance of public higher education to Massachusetts' economic future is widely recognized, state support for its 29 university and college campuses has been wildly inconsistent," writes the organization, pointing readers to a chart adjusted for inflation. "In a financially driven pattern that was first established in the state fiscal crisis of the late 1980s, appropriations for higher education have sustained two rounds of steep cuts - $222 million, or 29 percent, in fiscal 1988-1992 and $293 million, or 27 percent, in 2001-2004... In each case, the cuts wiped out much of the increases of the previous decade; after adjusting for inflation, the latest cuts have reduced state support to approximately the level of thirty years ago."
The report continues: "At the same time, higher education spending as a percent of the total budget has dropped from 6.5 percent in 1988 - the previous peak in higher education funding - to less than 3.5 percent in 2004. This year's state budget for higher education, including appropriations for the campuses and student financial aid, totals only $816 million, compared to $830 million for prisons and jails..."
On UMass, whose funding is 23% today, the MTF says, "Despite repeated financial shocks, higher education officials have been able to stregthen academic programs, improve accountability, and lower student costs, especially in the last decade. Unfortunately, the recent controversy over who should lead the University of Massachusetts - which dominated the 2004 budget debate - obscured not only the gains that have been made throughout the system but also the huge cuts in appropriations at every institution. The resulting dissarray in the system is profound, with campuses unable to honor previously negotiated faculty pay raises, long overdue capital improvements put on hold, entire academic programs jeopardized by the impacts of early retirement incentives that were intended as a less painful alternative to layoffs, and tens of thousands of students and parents scrambling to deal with unexpected hikes in tuitions and fees..."
The second half deals with the prison system and its costs. The entire bulletin can be obtained here, in pdf form.
AP has an article up.
State House News Service has this: "The surge in spending on prisons and jails is a nationwide trend, and states strapped for cash are beginning to more seriously question 'tough on crime' policies such as lengthy mandatory minimum sentencing, according to the report.
States are also increasingly restoring early parole and treatment plans for some drug offenders..."
MORE: The other week State Senator Brian Joyce came to UMass Boston for a talk, and had this to say:
"We've seen a retreat. We've seen the funding for this university the last couple years not made the priority that it has been in the past... And I think, again, that's not just poor social policy. It's poor economic policy..."
AND MORE: It made the front page of the Boston Herald today: "For the first time in decades, Massachusetts is poised to spend more on convicts than colleges - pumping millions into prisons while cutting back on cash for public higher education classrooms..."
And the Globe's Marcella Bombardieri had an article.
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