PHENOM

PHENOM Files Federal Complaint Over Use of Mass. Stimulus Money

—

by

admin
in , ,

The Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts (PHENOM) has filed a formal complaint with the Obama Administration, alleging that Massachusetts is violating the spirit and letter of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) by misusing stimulus money intended for public higher education.  The text of the complaint is at the end of this article.

The Patrick Administration has sought and received approval for a waiver of the requirements of the ARRA, which stipulates that the state must use stimulus money to preserve funding for public education over the next three years.  (The waiver application is available at

http://www.ed.gov/programs/statestabilization/stateapps/ma.pdf).

Instead, the Patrick Administration will be using much of the stimulus monies this year and next to help fill the state’s general budget deficit, leaving very little for public education in the final year.  By seeking to escape from all requirements for continued funding for public higher education in FY11, the Governor and Legislature are “laying the groundwork for massive cuts and massive fee hikes in public higher education,” said Alex Kulenovic, President of PHENOM.  “Under the cloak of this waiver, the Patrick Administration is going to accelerate the privatization of public higher education in Massachusetts.  The state will invest less, and students and their parents will pay more.”  Massachusetts currently ranks 46th among the 50 states in per capita funding for public higher education, and student charges are among the highest in the country.

PHENOM believes the state of Massachusetts is violating the ARRA in the following ways:

  • Massachusetts is using a large portion of the FY 2011 funds from the State Fiscal Stabilization Program to fill a budget deficit in FY 2009.  These funds, rather than being spent on education as mandated by the law, will instead be used for general operations of the state.
  • Massachusetts applied for a waiver of the “maintenance of effort” standard (i.e. that they would continue to support public education as they had been) by claiming that education spending as a percent of state revenues is higher in FY 2010 than in FY 2009.  This is not true for higher education.  According to the figures in the waiver application, the percent of revenues spent on higher education decreases from 4.944% (FY 2009) to 4.492% (FY 2010).
  • By using much of the FY 2011 funds in earlier years, the state faces a dramatic shortfall in FY 2011 and is likely to again fund higher education below the mandated FY 2006 levels.  With its waiver application, the Patrick Administration has signaled that it will not maintain even the FY06 level of investment in public higher education.  Massive hikes in tuition or fees – which ARRA insisted be avoided – will be the inevitable outcome in FY11 if not before.

“Deval Patrick spoke at UMass Amherst three weeks after he was elected and declared that he would be a ‘champion of public higher education in the corner office on Beacon Hill,’” said Dan Clawson, professor of sociology at UMass Amherst.  “Today he is saying, ‘I will shortchange higher education, expect our colleges to yet again increase the costs for students and parents, and do my bit to make higher education something that is only available to the affluent, something that squeezes the middle class hard and largely shuts out the poor and the working class.’”

Text of Complaint

PHENOM believes that Massachusetts is violating the ARRA in the following ways:

  1. Massachusetts is using a large portion of the FY 2011 funds from the State Fiscal Stabilization Program to fill a budget deficit in FY 2009.  These funds, designated by the ARRA to be used for public education, will instead be used for general operations of the state.  This violates Section 14002(a)(1) of the ARRA.
  2. Massachusetts received a waiver of the maintenance of effort standard by claiming in its application that education spending as a percent of state revenues will be higher in FY 2010 than in FY 2009.  This is not true for higher education. According to the figures in the waiver application, the percent of revenues spent on higher education decreases from 4.944% (FY 2009) to 4.492% (FY 2010).
  3. By using much of the FY 2011 funds in earlier years, the state faces a dramatic shortfall in FY 2011 and is almost certain to again fund higher education below the mandated FY 2006 levels.
  4. The impact of the waiver will be that Massachusetts will again dramatically raise student charges at public colleges, in violation of Section 14004(a) of the ARRA.