Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006
From: "Arline Isaacson" AISAACSON@massteacher.org
Subject: Higher Ed Funding Bill Passes Senate

Action in Senate
The Senate passed the Higher Ed funding bill (S2371) this afternoon.
It contained provisions committing the state to adequately fund public
higher ed via a funding formula over at least the next 7 years. In its
current form, the bill would commit the state to increased funding for
higher ed by approximately $59 m in FY'07.

The legislation provides for full tuition retention at the University
and all the colleges, but mitigates that provision with helpful caveats
addressing some of MTA's concerns about funding fringe benefits and
collective bargaining agreements.

The bill mandates that all institutions contribute to a reserve fund
each year and that those monies be used during economic downturns to help
the campuses avoid excessive increases in student fees.

The legislation deals with the continuing ed issue by creating a
special commission to investigate and study the feasibility of eliminating
the division between day and evening classes. It provides 3 seats on that
commission for representatives chosen by MTA.

As many of you know, the most contentious part of the bill dealt with
the question of who determines increases in fees: The Bd of Higher Ed
or the college presidents. MTA worked with the presidents on an
amendment to grant them control over fees if the state underfunded their
campuses. That amendment was rejected.

In its stead, the Senate added an amendment which added back into the
bill the specific appropriation amounts as they were listed in the
Higher Ed Committee's version. (The Senate Ways & Means Committee's version
of the bill deleted all those amounts.) The amendment also inserts a
line that the BHE must work in "conjunction with the presidents" on the
parameters and procedures under which an institution could increase its
fees above the 3 year average of the CPI (Consumer Price Index).

General Overview / Next Steps
The bill could provide an important vehicle to garner significantly
better funding for public higher ed in the coming years. While the bill
was strongly supported in the Senate, there remains however a question as
to when or even if the House will take up the measure.

In lobbying the House on the bill, MTA will continue to work with the
University and college presidents on the issue of fees so that we can
maximize the revenues available to campuses should their budgets be
underfunded.