To: Representative John Olver
From: UMass Amherst Labor Coalition (AFSCME Local 1776, Massachusetts Society of
Professors/MTA, University Staff Association/MTA, Professional Staff Union/MTA,
Graduate Employee Organization/UAW)
RE: Education and the Recovery
Date: January 6, 2009
As we discussed on Friday, we believe that any economic recovery package should include a sizeable education component. While we support a multi-faceted recovery program -- funds for infrastructure, green energy, health care, expansion of unemployment benefits, and targeted tax cuts -- we are convinced that aid to schools and improving access to higher education is an integral part of such a program. It is consistent with President-elect Obama’s stated goals: short-term stimulus and smart long-term economic development. America’s educators and the workers who support education are “shovel ready”.
A few important points:
1. Invest in Education. Investing in education at all levels, pre-K to post-graduate, is the key to short and long term recovery. At a time when so many people are losing their jobs and high school graduates find few awaiting them, there is a high demand for education. For example, applications for early admission to UMass Amherst are up 29 percent over last year[1], as are applications to public colleges and universities nationwide.
2.The Education Multiplier. Investing in public higher education has a greater multiplier effect, generating more economic activity than most other investments. For example, $1 in direct investment in UMass generates more than $8 in economic activity.[2] These investments need not and should not be limited to building projects. At least as important are additional funds for financial aid and campus operating budgets to ensure a high quality, affordable education for all.
3. Education is the competitive edge. Part of our country’s competitive edge has historically come from a strong infrastructure for scientific research, great universities, and a well-educated workforce. Michael Porter, the competitiveness guru at HarvardBusinessSchool, wrote in the Oct. 30 issue of Business Week that these advantages are starting to erode. He urges the Obama administration to not spread the spending around too thinly, to send a large amount to the states, and to make sure much of it goes to state universities.[3]
4. The Folly of Layoffs. Laying off teachers and support staff (as is already happening), limits educational opportunity just at a time when there is increased demand from students. There will be an increased need for the trained workers necessary for a successful transition to a new, greener economy that will be dependent on the skills of professionals in higher education. We are very supportive of increased funding for Pell grants, but we need to have the staff and faculty to work with the resulting larger number of students. We need to stop layoffs and begin hiring the faculty and staff to provide the kinds of innovative educational experiences that will drive a new, innovative economy.
5. Lagging in Education. Our country lags behind other countries in terms of training a highly educated workforce. In the proportion of the population aged 25 to 34 with a college degree, the United States matches France but trails Japan, Canada and Russia. A smaller proportion of the “first university degrees” awarded in the United States in 2004 (17 percent) were in science, mathematics and engineering related fields than was true than in any of the other G-8 countries.[4] We need millions and millions of college graduates in the coming decade if we are to compete with other countries. This is the exact moment to invest in public higher education.
6. Remain flexible. The recovery effort needs to be flexible enough to maintain teachers and support staff as part of the shovel ready economic recovery package. Infrastructure and machines are necessary for education but without flexibility we run the risk of losing the experienced educators necessary to run our educational institutions. There is little value in building fancy facilities if there is no one left behind to run them.
Education is key to the recovery short-term and long-term, locally, statewide, and nationally. This is the time to invest in education. This is our future. We know you share this perspective and are hopeful you can be influential with your colleagues in the days and weeks to come.
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[1] Boston Globe, December 23, 2008. “Framingham State and Westfield State colleges have seen more than 40 percent increases in applicants from this time a year ago, while the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams has seen a 60 percent jump. Early-action applications at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston have risen 75 percent. The surge extends to the state's two-year schools, with applications to Bunker HillCommunity College up 25 percent.
[2] UMass, A Strategic Investment http://media.umassp.edu/massedu/econdev/umass_economic_impact.pdf $524 million in state support leading to $4.3 billion in economic activity. For every 100 UMass jobs, more than 90 additional private sector jobs are created in the 5 UMass campuses’ regions as a result of UMass spending.
[3] Michael Porter, “Why America Needs an Economic Strategy,” Business Week, October 30, 2008 at http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_45/b4107038217112.htm . See also “Stimulus for Skeptics”, op ed by David Brooks, New York Times, November 28, 2008
[4] “Matching Up to the Group of 8”, Inside Higher Ed, August 15, 2007
