The waiver will allow the state to forgo rules stipulating how the $813 million in education stimulus funding received by the Commonwealth should be spent in the second and third year of the funding.

Through the waiver, which was granted Monday by the U.S. Department of Education, the state is no longer bound by stimulus strings that dictated the Commonwealth, in fiscal year 2010 (which begins at the end of the month) and 2011 must fund its 29 institutions of higher education at levels at least equal to fiscal year 2006 support. Read the rest of this entry »

Higher Education Advocates Protest Use of Stimulus Funds

By Peter Schworm, Boston Globe Staff

June 4, 2009

A Massachusetts higher education advocacy group filed a federal complaint yesterday against the Patrick administration, contending that state officials are spending stimulus money meant for colleges and universities to bridge the state’s general budget deficit.

The Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts, known as PHENOM, argues that the state is sidestepping provisions in the federal stimulus law by using money earmarked for education elsewhere. Read the rest of this entry »

April 8 was a chilly day in Boston, but temperatures around the Boston Common and State House rose noticeably with the energy of PHENOM’s rally, march, and legislative visits.  See video at abc40tv.com

300 people (mostly students) rallied, marched, and advocated for PHENOM’s 2009 agenda Read the rest of this entry »