Legislature shows little regard for power of education
By Roy Ockert Jr.
March 24, 2015
The 2015 session of the Arkansas General Assembly will never be mistaken for the “education session.” Legislators have shown little interest in the subject or recognition of its ability to lift our state from the bottom of national economic rankings.
Last week Sen. Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, proposed to cut funding to Arkansas’ colleges and universities by as much as $14.6 million in the next fiscal year.
Hester, whose main legislative achievement to date has been passing a law prohibiting local governments from extending civil rights to gay people, thinks that more tax cuts are preferable to investing in our children’s future. Obviously, the latter isn’t a priority on his political agenda.
Hester told the Joint Budget Committee that he plans to ask that the budget for the state’s 2- and 4-year colleges and universities be reduced by either $7.3 million (1 percent) or $14.6 million (2 percent) for the fiscal year beginning July 1.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson has proposed a higher education budget totaling almost $733.6 million for fiscal 2016, which is a lot of money. But that’s zero increase from the current fiscal year.
Comparatively, public school funding, which fortunately is constitutionally protected from such tomfoolery, will get an increase of $50.5 million — to almost $2.2 billion. Human services will do even better — an $81.2 million increase, mostly to meet Medicaid funding requirements.
Even the legislators, thanks to sharp salary hikes brought on by Amendment 94, will get a much higher increase than colleges and universities.
And yet Hester wants to cut higher education.
“I’m sure many of you have things that you think ought to be funded, and I think we’re about to realize very quickly there's no money for the things we want,” Hester told the Joint Budget Committee.
That would be, in part, because the governor and Legislature have already enacted an income tax cut costing $22.9 million in fiscal 2016 and $90 million in fiscal 2017.
However, Hester suggested that his proposed higher education reduction could allow for a tax cut on retirement benefits for military personnel, restoring a capital gains tax cut and more funding for prosecutors and public defenders as well as pre-kindergarten education.
A 2 percent cut doesn’t sound like much, but to the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville that would reduce its general-revenue budget by $2.4 million, according to information distributed by Hester. Other reductions would include: UA for Medical Sciences, $1.7 million; UA-Little Rock, $1.2 million; Arkansas State University, $1.1 million; and University of Central Arkansas, $1 million.
Some would argue that our colleges and universities could easily cut the fat from their budgets, and it’s true that some have become top-heavy in administrative costs. But like most states, Arkansas has kept its revenue contributions to higher education relatively flat for a number of years.
Further, since the establishment of the Arkansas Lottery Scholarship program in 2009, legislators have found it easier to ignore the need for providing financial assistance to students who lack the means to attend college. The lottery provides scholarships, they reasoned.
Unfortunately, lottery proceeds have declined steadily since its inception, and lawmakers have chosen to reduce state scholarship amounts, rather than adding more revenue. After all, that would get in the way of providing tax cuts, which in turn enhance their chances for re-election.
Sen. Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana, has proposed a bill that would cut a first-year lottery scholarship in half — to $1,000 — for a student to attend either a 2-or a 4-year college or university. The scholarship would go up by $1,000 to $4,000 for a sophomore at a 4-year institution and to $3,000 at the 2-year colleges.
Those who make it to their junior year would get $4,000, and seniors would get $5,000.
The latter numbers wouldn’t change under Hickey’s bill. But keep in mind that lottery scholarships started out at $5,000 a year for students to attend a 4-year school and $2,500 to attend a 2-year school.
To make up for the lack of state and federal funding, the institutions have shifted a much greater financial burden to their students with steady increases in tuition, room and board, and those ever-increasing per-credit-hour fees. According to Southern Regional Education Board statistics for the 2012-13 school year, the median cost of tuition and required fees (not including room and board) to attend a 4-year college in Arkansas was $7,065. The median cost for a student at a 2-year college was about $2,000 less.
The first year in college, especially for a recent high school graduate, is the most difficult in every way. Hickey’s bill (Senate Bill 5) would make it harder.
SB 5 passed the Senate on its second vote and is bottled up in a House committee. He told an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter on Friday that he is drafting an amendment in hopes of gaining support in the House.
Meanwhile, Hester has run into opposition for his proposal to cut higher education funding, including from Gov. Hutchinson, who told reporters that he is committed to a budget with consistent funding for the state’s colleges and universities.
Let’s hope he can make that promise stick.
Roy Ockert is editor emeritus of The Jonesboro Sun. He may be reached by e-mail at royo@suddenlink.net.