Chronicle Of Higher Education
02-22-07
Governors' Plans Offer Good News for Higher Education
By PETER SCHMIDT
With most states' economies in healthier shape than they have been in years,
public colleges and their students are finding plenty to cheer in the State of the
State and budget addresses that governors have delivered in recent weeks to
kick off legislative sessions.
Among the 44 governors who have given their customary year-opening speeches
so far, more than a dozen proposed pumping large sums of money into academic
research for the sake of promoting the growth of new industries, especially in the
fields of energy and medicine.
Arguing that their states must do more to develop well-educated work forces, an
even larger number have proposed giving public colleges large infusions of
additional cash to expand or improve their academic offerings or to hold down
tuition. The governors' proposals to spend more on public colleges come at a
time when enrollment in many states is leveling off, so that their appropriations
per student stand to rise significantly.
In addition, well over a third of the governors have called on legislatures to
substantially increase spending on financial assistance to college students.
Proposals to give high-school students access to college courses, beef up highschool instruction to increase college-going rates, and provide community
colleges with money to retrain workers also are part of many governors' plans for
the new year. An interim analysis of half of the governors' speeches, released
this month by the National Governors Association, concluded that state chiefs
"are taking advantage of flush revenues to achieve progress toward an ambitious
goal: strengthening their state economies around innovation and knowledgebased enterprises."
"These state-led initiatives cut across traditional boundaries to include K-12
education, higher education, and economic development," says the analysis,
prepared by Thad R. Nodine, vice president of the Institute for the Study of
Knowledge Management in Education, in Half Moon Bay, Calif.
Many governors face political resistance to their proposals, especially governors
whose economic-development plans call for the financing of controversial
research using human embryonic stem cells.
By and large, however, it appears that, barring a severe economic downturn,
higher education is in for a good year in terms of state financial support.
Fueling Research
While many governors voiced concerns in their speeches about high fuel costs
and global warming, several expressed confidence that the need to come up with
new energy sources offered their states great opportunity for economic
development.
Among them, Gov. Chet Culver of Iowa said he would ask lawmakers to set
aside $25-million as the first installment toward the creation of a $100-million
Iowa Power Fund to promote research into alternative sources of power and the
development of related new businesses.
"Let's put Iowa in a position to win the race to become the energy capital of the
world," Governor Culver, a Democrat, declared in the State of the State and
budget address he delivered in late January. He did not specify how much of the
fund's money he wanted to go toward financing university research, but a
spokeswoman said she expected laboratories and business incubators on
campuses to get a substantial share.
Iowa State University already operates a research program in biorenewable
energy, involving 140 faculty members and financed over the past five years with
$45-million in federal and private funds. "We have researchers moving in
extraordinarily different directions," said the program's director, Robert C.
Brown. The researchers are studying materials as varied as corn, grass, and
algae as possible sources of fuel.
Elsewhere around the nation, the governors of Arkansas, Colorado, Michigan,
and Vermont have talked of seeking to position their states as leaders in the
production of alternative forms of energy. Charles Merritt, who is monitoring State
of the State addresses as vice president for external relations at the Education
Commission of the States, said each of the governors who had offered up such a
proposal proclaimed his or her state to have the advantage.
Mr. Brown, at Iowa State, acknowledged that "research is always a high-risk
venture," and that "only a small fraction of it directly produces a commercially
viable product." He added, however, that it was entirely possible that an array of
new energy sources would be developed, allowing different states to become
leaders in different niches.
Banking on Biomedicine
Many governors have announced plans to try to position their states as hubs of
research and development in medicine, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology.
Among them, Gov. Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania, a Democrat, has
proposed establishing a $500-million fund to promote research in biomedicine,
mainly by renovating and equipping existing facilities and building new
laboratories around the state.
"This unprecedented commitment to the cause of scientific research in
Pennsylvania will solidify our leadership position in the field of biosciences -- right
up there with our major U.S. competitors New Jersey and California," Governor
Rendell said in the budget address he delivered this month.
In neighboring Maryland, Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, has proposed
creating a state board that would be responsible for developing a plan to expand
the state's life-sciences industry. His proposed budget for the coming fiscal year
contains $25-million for stem-cell research.
In New York, Gov. Eliot Spitzer's proposed budget contains $100-million to
establish a fund for research on stem cells and other areas of biomedicine. He
hopes eventually to persuade the state's voters to approve $1.5-billion in bonds
to help finance the construction of new research facilities. "This investment will
repay itself many times over in increased jobs, economic activity, and improved
health," he told legislators in January.
On a related note, several governors have proposed large expenditures to help
train people to work in fields related to science and engineering. Among them,
Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona, a Democrat, has proposed increasing state
spending on graduate medical education by $44-million to expand the supply of
doctors. Gov. Jim Doyle of Wisconsin, a Democrat, has asked lawmakers to
approve money to support new efforts to train engineers, biologists, and experts
in fields such as nanotechnology. Gov. Jennifer Granholm of Michigan, a
Democrat, has proposed a plan to train 3,000 nurses in three years. And Gov.
Linda Lingle of Hawaii, a Republican, has proposed establishing high schools
that would concentrate on science, technology, engineering, and medicine, and
giving college scholarships to their graduates.
Helping Students
College students may directly benefit from the largess of lawmakers in many
states where governors have proposed big increases in spending on financial aid
for higher education.
In Kentucky, Gov. Ernie Fletcher, a Republican, has proposed spending an
additional $20-million on need-based financial aid, enough to offer such
assistance to 11,800 state residents who were not getting it before. He also has
asked lawmakers to appropriate $5-million to provide aid to part-time students for
the first time, to help working adults complete their college educations.
Among the other governors who have called for their states to spend
substantially more on need-based student aid are M. Jodi Rell of Connecticut, a
Republican; Dave Heineman of Nebraska, a Republican; and Matt Blunt of
Missouri, a Republican.
Proposals to increase spending on merit-based aid seem equally popular among
governors.
In North Carolina, Gov. Michael F. Easley, a Democrat, has called for legislators
to make new scholarships available to low- and moderate-income students,
provided the students work 10 hours a week to help pay for their education and
keep up their grades. "This is no free lunch," Mr. Easley declared in his State of
the State speech on Monday.
Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana, a Democrat, expressed a desire to help the
middle class in calling for lawmakers to appropriate more money for merit-based
scholarships.
In at least a half-dozen states, including Michigan, New Mexico, and Washington,
governors have made it clear that they plan to ask colleges to limit tuition
increases as a condition for receiving additional state support.
Increasing the proportion of young people going to college is a top priority of
governors in much of the nation. Many have proposed plans to make publicschool curricula more demanding, to improve the quality of high schools in rural
areas and the inner cities, and to give students an opportunity to earn college
credits while in high school.
Summaries of the governors' proposals related to education are available on the
Web site of the Education Commission of the States.