Higher ed funding

In the past 18 months, funding for higher education in Massachusetts has been cut by 25%, nearly a quarter of a billion dollars!  Before these cuts, Massachusetts was 46^th in the country in percentage of state revenues spent on public higher ed.  We only managed to survive the past year with roughly $75M in federal stimulus money that flowed to this campus.  That money will soon be gone, and barring restoration of state support, more temporary federal stimulus money, or huge student fee increases, we will face dramatic cuts.

But all is not lost, and political action could help provide considerable relief.  The US House has passed an extension of the federal stimulus funds to the states, and a similar bill is pending in the US Senate.  Revenues are inching back up in Massachusetts, and further revenue generation is being considered here.  As we act as advocates for UMass, we must describe the fine things that happen here, the special and unique opportunities provided at a research university, and importantly, what could be lost should the state’s stewardship of the university fail.

MSP Contract status

We signed our current contract in March 2009, and the Governor submitted it to the House Ways and Means committee in May 2009, too late for it to be included in the FY10 budget debate.  It still sits in committee today, waiting for funding and the governor’s final signature.  Just to remind you of the financial parameters, we had no raises whatsoever in FY09, a 1.5% increase in FY10 (again that is not yet funded as the bill is stuck in committee), and 3.5% increases due in FY11 and FY12.  We also won a variety of non-financial issues including flexible sabbaticals, the ability to use sick leave and the MSP sick leave bank for the care of family members, phased retirement, promotions for lecturers, a computer replacement policy and other gains, all of which are already in effect.  The last time we had a raise of any kind was July 2007!

Give backs

We should review some facts at hand:

·        Higher ed funding overall has been cut dramatically.

·        Health care benefits have been substantially reduced through increased co-pays and new deductibles

·        Faculty attrition is well underway with MSP having 74 fewer faculty on our unit list and over $5M less in payroll (this accounts for two thirds of the $7.6M in payroll savings touted by the chancellor in his funding review to the faculty and staff).  Faculty and staff hiring is near a standstill despite continuing retirements and departures.  We have lost more faculty in the past year than we gained in the entire Amherst 250 plan.

·        Faculty and librarian workloads are up as student enrollment has increased, grant funding is up, and our members are busy generating revenue to help relieve the financial crisis.  These efforts impact teaching, research and service loads.

We have already given back an awful lot.

Trade-offs?

One position the administration is taking is that if we give back now we could get our contracts funded, and/or mitigate layoffs of faculty, staff or graduate students.

The idea that we have to give something up to get the contract implemented is outrageous.  Let’s review the numbers on the give back trade ideas.  First, the MSP can not bargain workforce size even of the MSP, and certainly can not bargain the workforce size of staff or graduate students.  With a potential for a few million dollars in savings from furloughs or delayed raises, retention of staff or graduate students pales in comparison to the $50-70M budget gap we are facing.  We may well take furloughs and layoffs and still have a deficit.

There is also discussion of trading givebacks for revoking the loss of healthcare benefits (deductibles and co-pays).  This too is unenforceable, as the healthcare benefits we receive are set by the state’s Group Insurance Commission, and are not negotiable.

The idea that there could be clean trade-offs, where we clearly win some concession by giving up some more money, is a myth.  

Our Current Position

We have agreed to meet with administration officials to hear their ideas.  However, any movement to modify our signed, sealed, and all-but-delivered contracts must go through the standard process of advice from the MSP officers, approval by the MSP executive board, and a ratification vote by the MSP membership. 

Politics matter

We will be very active this spring, advocating for public higher education, preserving the core values of the university, and supporting political efforts to stabilize funding sources.  Please be alert to requests for organizing around specific campaigns.  We will do our very best to keep you fully informed.

Randall Phillis

MSP President