Blunt Not Quite Truthful On State's Education Facts

Springfield News-Leader Editorial

Gov. Matt Blunt has been traveling the state in the past week patting himself on the back for all he's done for education funding in the state of Missouri. Indeed, Blunt is right when he says he's increased funding for higher education in the past couple of years. He's right when he tries to earn political points by pointing out that the previous governor, Bob Holden, withheld money from schools during a recession and budget crunch.

He's right when he points out that his plan to sell Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority assets pumped millions of dollars into university construction projects, including $29 million at Missouri State University.

He's right that he did all of this without a tax increase.

 

All true.

 

Here's another fact that's equally true. Even with the increases, in fiscal year 2007, the state spent more money on prescription drugs - $884.5 million

- than it did on higher education - $883.3 million.

 

So pardon us if we don't quite buy into the governor's campaign rhetoric when he tells college students, as he did last week:

 

"Education is my highest priority, and I am committed to ensuring that our children receive a world-class education."

 

World class?

 

For those college students who understand a little bit of math, here's how world-class Missouri's funding for higher education is:

 

- The state ranks a pitiful 47th in the nation in higher education funding per capita, spending less per state resident than every state except for Colorado, Vermont and New Hampshire.

 

- Missouri ranks dead last in terms of the percentage increase in higher education funding between fiscal years 2005 and 2007, the very two years the governor is bragging about.

 

- Missouri only spends 1.2 percent of its total state revenues on higher education.

 

- Regionally, Missouri's spending on higher education fails in comparison to every border state. The race isn't even close. Missouri's 2.7 percent increase in the last two fiscal years is minuscule compared to 3.9 percent in Illinois, 8.2 percent in Iowa, 10.2 percent in Kansas, 10.6 percent in Tennessee, 11.9 percent in Kentucky, 13.4 percent in Nebraska and 14.6 percent in Arkansas.

 

So Blunt is right when he says his budget is inching in the right direction.

But he misses the point if he really wants to make education a priority.

Higher education in this state hasn't been a priority in at least a decade, not under Republican or Democratic governors, not under Republican or Democratic legislative control.

 

If Blunt truly wants to be the education governor, then we challenge him to tell college students and their parents the truth: This state's performance in terms of higher education funding over the past decade is nothing short of tragic. And the result is that fewer people short of the very poor or very rich can afford to go to college. Indeed, between 1979 and 2004, according to the Center for the Study of Education Policy, Missouri's access-cost ratio, the statistical measure of affordability, skyrocketed.

Tuition during that time has nearly tripled, while need-based aid per student has fallen dramatically. And state funding hasn't come close to keeping up.

 

That means that students don't have access to state colleges and universities.

 

It means Missouri is falling miserably behind its competitors.

 

This is not a political issue in which our elected officials should go around patting themselves on the back for incremental progress or pointing out failures of the past. The failure is all of ours. It's the governor's, the previous governor's, legislators for more than a decade and university presidents more caught up in fighting for their piece of the pie than standing up and demanding that the state put students first. While our state lawmakers are in Jefferson City this week giving tax credits away to special interests and calling it economic development, the real economic development opportunity - investing in our colleges and universities - is being ignored.

 

 

When it comes to the increases Blunt is telling college students about, we're not first. We're not world class.

 

Missouri is dead last. Worst in the nation.

 

It's time that our politicians, elected officials, university presidents, parents and students focus on that sobering statistic. Maybe a tax increase is what we need - that's what Republican lawmakers are mulling to bring our roads up to higher standards. Maybe we need to do a better job of holding on to the revenue we bring in, and not hand it out to business interests whose economic effect on the state pales in comparison to universities. Maybe we need to re-examine our regionalized system of two-and four-year colleges and universities and consider bringing them all under one umbrella so we can do more with what we've got.

 

What we must do, however, and there are no maybes about it, is start telling the truth about Missouri's state of higher education funding. Our students and parents can't afford school. Our colleges and universities have buildings that are falling apart. Our state has turned its back on the biggest and best economic development tool they have. We have become, hands down, one of the worst states in the nation over the past decade when it comes to spending taxpayers dollars on our schools.

 

If Blunt truly wants to be the education governor, these are the facts he should be talking about as he travels the state speaking to students.

 

Missouri is failing its students. What are we going to do about it?

 

Copyright, August 2007,

 

Springfield News-Leader