State College Funding Turns on Definition of "Provide"
The Texas Constitution says the state will “provide for the maintenance, support and direction of a University of the first class.”
In 1984, that meant about half of every dollar in higher education came out of the state budget. Today, it’s closer to 13 percent at the University of Texas at Austin and 22 percent at Texas A&M University in College Station.
So, at that level, is the state really providing for the sort of education championed in its founding document?
That’s fodder for debate. Lawyers could probably generate a room full of words over the obligations ...
Comments (12)
V Marshall
It seems that every other day I am reading some article about the things this state government no longer funds adequately. With every story all I think is "that is why we have immigration laws to begin with". When immigration is unregulated, the people who actually pay for all the "things we do together" become overburdened to the point that many of the less essential of those things end up getting cut. Pre K-12 spending has grown at unprecedented rates in Texas. Medicaid/Chip spending increases about 30% every budget cycle. That doesn't leave much money to spend on other things - like universities - when it is the same tax base covering all the extra costs associated with the growth in demand for K-12 & Medicaid.
Leon Drozd
A tongue-in-cheek observation for this Monday:
Texas politicians and citizens should keep their noses out of the business of education --- a topic for which they are unqualified and ignorant. The corporate and wealthy benefactors of higher education in Texas will determine who gets educated and how much education they need to serve economic interests. Plus, why waste taxpayer money on educating the lower (underprivileged, as Bar Bush would say) classes? It only makes them uppity and difficult to control --- makes them think they deserve more pay and, ferhevvinnssake, medical benefits! Texas is a good work commune. Don't mess with it.
By the way, how about naming those $10,000 degrees after Mr. Perry!
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Ben Carson
Once again, politicians refuse to follow laws they find inconvenient or contrary to party beliefs. I refuse to refer to the political parties by name anymore. Henceforth, I will refer to them as "People with Common Sense" and "Dunderheads ". Republicans refer to themselves as Conservatives, but these guys are anything but conservative! Democrats have been labeled liberals, better they're more like republicans everyday. Time we had a whole lot higher expectations.
-Follow the state constitution or change it
-honor the public trust-ALL ASPECTS
-Stay away from vouchers/privatization, our kids are not for SALE!
-listen to the people who elect you, not your party affiliation
-stop grandstanding, be productive!
-fix the state tax code
-Learn what local control means (for the Dunderheads, that means self control and respect for others opinions, most importantly it means mind your own business)
Meme Me
And so....
It's our obligation to educate the multitudes who have flooded into our state illegally?
Fact is, we can't afford it!
The money isn't there.
Chris Jonsson
Supporting our university system with our taxes is a civic duty that every generation has to support the next generations. We are investing in our youth, our future, and our state by giving our share of taxes to state universities and to have an educated population. We help each other. That includes Corporate citizens too. Cutting state funding for universities is shot sighted. Tuition for in state students has gotten too high and blocks opportunity for Texans. It also blocks intellectual and creative progress, making us less competitive.
A B
If receiving an education is a right, then by definition there are no problems funding education. Since education is a right (like free speech or religion) then the government can force educators to work for whatever price; or force the people to surrender whatever assets in order to allow the people to exercise their right to an education. If education is not a right, and our constitution forces the government to provide a university, who gets to benefit from this taxpayer subsidized privilege? How do you select those privileged people without bias?
Kevin Dillon
The article's main point, that "in 1984...about half of every dollar in higher education came out of the state budget. Today, it’s closer to 13 percent at the University of Texas at Austin and 22 percent at Texas A&M University in College Station," is probably not that meaningful.
For example, by how much has federal and other grants and contract support grown at these two flagship universities, over nearly three decades? At health institutions, same question, plus add large hospital and physician programs as well.
The truth is that many U.S. universities have, in a sense, diversified, by getting more and more into (strictly speaking) non-educational activities (such as sponsored research and hospital and physicians activities). And this is likely a good thing, competing for (almost always, competively awarded) federal grants and growing hospital and physicians services, that often help with un- and under-insured population's needs. Universities' reputations are enhanced by success in these "other" areas (as, to be sure, they are via educational excellence as well).
Now, if one is focused purely on educational activities of a university (again, excluding NIH, NSF and other research sponsors) and one looks at the portion of those costs funded by (a) state support versus (b) tuition, that's probably more meaningful. There, the overall rate of growth of educational costs, versus that of, say, general inflation, should also be considered.
WUSRPH
When my father graudated from college in 1927 he was one of less than 20,000 people NATIONWIDE graduating from private and public colleges combined that year. If the trend of less and less state aid (including scholarships) and higher and higher tuition and fees at private and public colleges continues we may soon be back to that same number of graudates...Of course, since they would all be the "right people" from the "right familiies" with the "right views" (as it was almost always in 1927) that might be okay with many people.
Michael Hull
A B said:
If receiving an education is a right, then by definition there are no problems funding education. Since education is a right (like free speech or religion) then the government can force educators to work for whatever price; or force the people to surrender whatever assets in order to allow the people to exercise their right to an education. If education is not a right, and our constitution forces the government to provide a university, who gets to benefit from this taxpayer subsidized privilege? How do you select those privileged people without bias?
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I feel dumber for having read that....
A B
HAHAHAHA
@ Michael Hull
So what's dumb about my comment? Please tell us what you think is wrong with our education system. Perhaps you think we should just throw more money. That's the most common outcry; it's also the most stupid. Maybe you think we should increase teacher accountablity, or maybe student accountablity, maybe both. All of these "solutions" (and others) miss the underlying problem, the real problem with our education system.
Not all people are meant / wired / want to be educated.....at the high school level, much less college level. I'm talking about the high school and college levels of the 1950s, not today's watered down thresholds of educational achievement.
We shouldn't be debating how much money. We should be debating the entire system.
Samdavis
There's a trend, under the current leadership, of severely underfunding education and thinking there won't be consequences. This has nothing to do with illegals, that's just a straw man thrown up by conservatives.
The real problem is the warped priorities of Rick Perry, Greg Abbott, and the GOP-dominated legislature. There's plenty of time and money for forced transvaginal ultrasounds and voter ID but not enough to deal with education in a meaningful way. Education is like doing maintenance on a car; either keep it in good shape or it will eventually fail. Our education system from kindergarten to public colleges is broken and our leadership is refusing to do anything other than tout $10,000 degrees. While we need a complete makeover (including technical schools) but does anyone in Texas really think that Republicans will do anything that has a price tag on it? We'll just kick it down the road and let it come back and bite us in the butt in 6-8 years.
Leon Drozd
One commenter mentioned multitudes of people who have entered the state illegally. I didn't realize this segment of the population was such a cost burden. I was under the impression that Texans wanted these folks to do low-wage labor. My sense is that the state fails to educate these people at one's own risk. If you think crime and thugs are a problem now, just imagine a few generations of illiterate or uneducated people.
At some point, it seems that Texans are going to have to better understand who is in Texas and to collect its share at the income spigot. What's wrong with taxing the income and tracking those who derive income from enterprises in the state? If the money is needed to educate, then it seems justified, though, of course, good stewardship of tax money is critical.
How much is education worth? What you paid for it?