Spitzer Priority: Big Increase In Higher Ed. Aid; Seeks to Add 2,000 Faculty Jobs For CUNY, SUNY

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

A less-combative Governor Spitzer gave a scaled-down State of the State address Jan. 9 and once again received high marks from education unions - this time for committing to increase funding in the face of an unmentioned $4-billion state deficit.

THE EDUCATION OF ELIOT SPITZER: Governor Spitzer, trying to regain his political footing after draining battles with legislative leaders during the latter part of his first year, is focusing on education, proposing a large infusion of money for public colleges while maintaining higher funding for elementary and secondary schools at the levels he implemented last spring.

Taking pains to reach out to legislators he had alienated during a bruising first year in office, Mr. Spitzer pledged to revitalize the public higher-education system. He proposed hiring 2,000 more professors and creating a $4 billion endowment for the State and City Universities of New York, sidestepping any mention of the controversial tuition hikes that a commission he appointed recommended three weeks earlier.

PSC: 'Gratifying' News

He also promised continued record-level funding for pre-kindergarten through 12th grade education and proposed a $400-million fund to create middle-income housing.

Professional Staff Congress President Barbara Bowen said her union was extremely pleased to see the focus on higher education. "In 2000, we were the lone voice in Albany talking about the severe disinvestment in CUNY," she said. "To go from crying in the wilderness to the Governor's headline is very gratifying."

Echoing the sentiments of the Higher Education Commission he appointed last spring, Mr. Spitzer argued for renewed investment as an economic necessity. "If you want to participate in the innovation economy, a high school diploma is not always enough," the Governor said in his speech. "We can't strengthen our economy without the best colleges producing the best-prepared graduates."

BARBARA BOWEN: A great start.

He endorsed the commission's proposal to fund 2,000 new full-time faculty, including "250 eminent scholars - the type of professors whose research draws grants and collaboration from around the globe, and whose stature lifts entire campuses." He gave his support to the commission's suggestion to create "flagship institutions," singling out the University of Buffalo and the University of Stony Brook.

'A Permanent Priority'

Mr. Spitzer also argued that a $4-billion endowment, which he said would produce $200 million in operating funds annually, was needed. "Higher education funding should no longer be a budgetary pawn or a yearly battle," the Governor stated. "It must be a permanent priority."

While emphasizing the enormous step forward the proposals represented, Ms. Bowen noted that due to the "extent of the disinvestment," CUNY alone needed about 5,000 new full-time faculty to get to where it was in the mid-1970s, when enrollment was about what it is today.

She said members were happy to see that the Governor did not call for an increase in tuition or endorse the commission's proposal to allow different public colleges to set different levels of tuition.

When asked if the Governor's speech would have an impact on contract negotiations, since CUNY has yet to make an economic offer to the PSC - whose contract expired in September 2007 - Ms. Bowen said she hoped the university would "come forward with an offer that's in the same spirit of investing in the future of CUNY."

FRED FLOSS: An investment in state's future.

United University Professions officials, who represent faculty and staff at the State University of New York, also welcomed the increase in faculty. "Rebuilding the ranks of our full-time faculty at SUNY and the City University of New York is absolutely critical to rebuilding New York's financial future," UUP President Fred Floss said in a statement, "and we applaud the Governor for seeing that connection."

Need More Profs

But he also noted that SUNY would need 1,600 new professors to restore the student-faculty ratio to the level it was 15 years ago.

And spokesman Donald Feldstein said that while the union was not against the creation of an endowment, he noted that "endowments take a long time to develop." He stressed that the need for new faculty was immediate: "Our concern is that we need direct state funding to achieve this." He added that UUP officials were looking forward to the Governor's budget address Jan. 22 in which more details of the higher-education funding plan will be spelled out.

Leaders of the city's Teachers' and Principals' unions also praised the Governor's focus on education. "It is encouraging to see that Governor Spitzer has reaffirmed his commitment to continue funding to meet the goals of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity," said United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten in a statement. "This will go far to address the needs of city public schools and help the city significantly reduce class size."

'Tone Right, Now Invest'

Council of School Supervisors and Administrators President Ernest Logan said the Governor had set the right tone. "School leaders have embraced the Governor's accountability initiatives," Mr. Logan said in a statement, "and we hope he will see fit to invest in their training and retention in a specific and meaningful way."

State unions also praised the Governor's speech and its emphasis on investing in the upstate economy - to the tune of $1 billion. But officials from the Public Employees Federation, who represent state lottery workers, were cautious about the Governor's proposal to fund the higher-education endowment by exploring private investment in the state lottery system. "[T]here is reason to be concerned anytime there is a possibility for privatization," said PEF President Ken Brynien in a statement. "The Governor's proposal merits a closer look when the state budget is released later this month to see if it protects the public interest."

Housing Offered

Union officials were also pleased with Mr. Spitzer's emphasis on affordable housing. In his speech, the Governor said that the $400 million Housing Opportunity Fund would "build homes for the men and women who teach our kids and police our streets."

A state official later clarified that while the details were still being worked out, the fund was much broader and was aimed at allowing "working people to live closer to where they work." The fund would also be used to build "supportive housing," a term that usually applies to people with specific housing disadvantages such as those living with HIV, recovering from substance abuse, formerly homeless or mentally ill.