Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw) Weekend Contributor
I have to give Governor Bruce Rauner credit for not taking long to show his hand and publicly attack the Higher Education system in Illinois. It has only been a few weeks since he was inaugurated and he recently unveiled his budget. A budget plan that slashes over $200 million just from the University of Illinois alone.
At the very time Gov. Rauner announced he wants to slash the Higher Education budget for all universities in the State of Illinois by almost a third, he claimed that his budget makes education a priority!
“Higher education is set to take a major hit in Illinois.
Following similar announcements by the Republican governors of Wisconsin and Louisiana, newly-sworn in Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner released what he called a “turnaround” budget, that would slash nearly $209 million from the University of Illinois.” Think Progress
“It’s time to make education our top priority again – and that’s what this budget does,” he told lawmakers Tuesday night, touting his plan to give about $25 million more to early childhood education. “With reform, we will be able to invest more in education and give our kids world class schools.” Think Progress
While the proposed budget increases some funding for K-12 education, the University of Illinois system will lose one-third of its state financing under this budget. This very same proposed budget makes absolutely no mention of any increased revenue sources or plans. What will happen to the University system if these cuts are retained in the final budget?
One can expect the cuts to cause increased fees being charged to students as well as the loss of many educational programs. The result of these massive reductions in state financing will be to transfer the costs to students who are already paying high tuition and fee costs. The loan balances of many students already into the 6 figures and Gov. Rauner’s actions will make sure that student debt will continue to climb in Illinois.
So often the claims that all areas of the State have to share in the burden of digging out of a financial hole ends up with some of the most vulnerable bearing the brunt of that burden. If the Governor is convinced that we all have to sacrifice in this job to balance the budget, why wouldn’t new tax sources be considered along with reasonable cuts?
Will these draconian cuts make it more difficult for students from poor and middle class families to obtain a college education? In this very same budget proposal, Gov. Rauner biggest cuts are aimed directly at those who are least able to afford them.
“Yet the state would spend $400 million less on higher education, $600 million less on local governments, and $1.5 billion less on Medicaid, which handles health care costs for poor residents. University leaders and mayors said they were worried, and advocates for the poor said they feared medical needs would go unmet under deep cuts to Medicaid.” New York Times
When the cities, counties and municipalities raise their taxes to pay for basic services for their residents, who has to pay for those increases? “In many cases, Rauner’s state budget cuts could simply end up shifting costs: local governments could choose to raise property taxes, state universities could raise tuition and the CTA could increase fares.” Chicago Tribune
For a man who spent at least $37 million of his own money to get elected governor, he sure has no problem making the middle class and poor pay more for a college education and for health care and local taxes and transportation costs.
Rauner seems to be following the economic model that worked so “well” for Gov. Brownback in Kansas and Gov. Walker in Wisconsin.
Just how has that austerity approach worked out for Kansas and Wisconsin?
Additional Sources: Examiner.com; Crains Chicago Business
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Any doubt if these state-funded institutions were viewed as corporations that they would be condemned as 1%er’s and that the compensation gap was unjustifiable?
Nick,
Great post Rafflaw. Sad news for students in Illinois.
Instead of throwing back and forth snipes at each other, why not address the premise of rafflaw’s article which….as I understand it…..is that a budget cut will mean raising in tuition and a cut in classes.
My contention is that until we KNOW what the fiscal realities of the situation are….such as budget, components of the budget, administrative costs, overhead, staffing costs, and a multitude of other budgetary considerations…..we cannot infer that there will automatically be cuts as rafflaw envisions.
My contention is that there is ALWAYS an amount in a budget that can be pared down without doing damage to the utlimate products. Granted that there will be a point where there are no more “easy” cuts or low hanging fruit. At that point you will see a deterioration of product.
We have no idea if this is the case or not in Illinois. I rather suspect, given the bloat in administrative areas and the bloat in unnecessary frivolities that make universities more like spa retreats than academic institutions that there is plenty of fat that can be cut.
BUT….we do not know this without some substantiating fact and some analysis. So ….to make a blanket assertion based on what you ‘think’ may be the result of a budget cut and not on facts is not irresponsible, it is obviously an opinion based on partisan biases.
Facts….not opinion was the meat and potatoes of my business and should be the business of our government when dealing with OUR money.
Reblogged this on Czar Donic's Blog.
Max, That was funny! And remember, that led to 41’s demise when he let Dems hoodwink him into raising taxes. “It wasn’t prudent. Must be prudent[Dana Carvey voice].”
LOL! I am WAY too rough around the edges to be a weekender. I KNOW myself quite well, understanding my strengths and weaknesses. Et vous? I swear on the souls of my dear parents, I would NEVER consider myself a weekender. That was a stupid assertion on its face. And, it says much more about you, than I. Much more.
Back to the topic. Chicago is losing conventions @ an alarming scale due to its high taxes, higher than every other city in the country. For folks who have not stayed in Chicago, the hotel tax is 16.4%!! That, combined w/ exorbitant labor costs, have clobbered Chicago Convention biz. Their good central location used to make Chicago a big convention city. But, you can’t plug your computer into a walk socket w/o having a union guy do it, for a huge fee. Chicago will be the next Detroit.
Nick,
You forgot the “read my lips” part of the rant…
Oklahoma, Illinois…
Tomato, tomata.
So, instead of learning FROM history, we get to repeat it…
Rafflaw,
Maybe Rauner should go the way of Governor Brownback of Kansas. Did you see how he has helped his state?
No tax increases are reasonable in tax hell, BIG cuts are the only way to get back to some sanity. NO NEW TAXES!
What no tax cuts for the rich and corp. What a lightweight. This is 0 home state and college but then he already got his education.
Nick,
You are always so pleasant. The Illinois budget has been decimated over a 30 year period of time with multiple Republican governors robbing Peter to pay Paul. To be fair, I suggested reasonable cuts and tax increases.
Apparently the people have shifted allegiance to Peter and no longer have undying support for Paul. Good for him and the state that elected him.
Illinois is tax hell for hard working people. Notice raff’s solution, MORE TAXES!
raff is a hardcore Dem. EVERY county in Illinois voted for this guy but Cook County..EVERY COUNTY! Dems have ravaged the Illinois budgets. Through corruption and patronage the state is on the verge of bankruptcy. That’s why EVERY county but the corrupt County of Cook voted for him. This guy was handed a bowl full of feces, he’s trying to get the corrupt state of Illinois back on footing. Tough decisions had to be made. Raff is a holdover from the old weekend regime. I think his wife is a union teacher. ‘Nuff said.
Not very well for Wisconsin. It will take us a long time to recover from the policies of Walker. His recent attack on the UW system and the removal of the words that are called the Wisconsin idea tells the tale. I guess he doesn’t believe in it and his policies reflect this. This is what we’ve been seeing from Republican Governors, one of the first things they do is attack education.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsin_Idea
Inga (Anna), you should see what the U of CA schools have. Very plush. Transferring funds from higher education to K-12 is the right thing to do. The taxpayers should get schools commensurate with what they pay. I don’t think there’s a Governor in this country not involved in improving education.
There are only 18 Democrat Governors. Republicans do not attack education. They are attempting to improve it. Have you looked closely at Common Core?it’s ridiculous. But kids should be able to read and write, which is not happening in many places.
Scott Walker just got elected for the third time, so he must be doing something good. I have concerns about how Unions spend money. Giving members $$ to politicians that members don’t support.
I have a niece who spent two years in college at UW. Transferred out because of poor teaching. I think a lot of snooty professors who write books, rarely teach, should be weeded out.
There’s lots of money in this country. If it was spent wisely, there would be enough to fund all education. I feel terrible when I hear people refinancing their home to send kids to college. Are they just going or are they actually persuing something specific? Liberal Arts degrees are meaningless.
Without knowing what the budget categories and uses of funds are for the Universities in Illinois actually are, it is difficult to determine that this cut would really cause what you say: ie higher tuition and cuts in class offerings. Without examining the facts, budgets and other aspects of it….you are merely assuming that the tuition will have to go up.
Most government run institutions and universities seem to have a lot of “cushion” and spend excessively on administrative costs and have a lot of room to make cuts. You would have to examine the budgets and determine IF there is room to make cuts that would not impact the quality of education at the college level. Otherwise you are just making assumptions. Analysis always trumps assumptions 🙂
In my career, prior to my 20 years as a financial planner and advisor, I was for several years a commercial lending officer in a bank environment and spent many hours going over business taxes, business plans and so forth in the line of determining if the client was going to be qualified for substantial commercial and agricultural loans. It was also my job to make budgetary suggestions or even make demands of clients if they expected to be granted a loan. There is ALWAYS room to budget better and be more efficient without affecting quality of product.
Secondly. Since MORE people in most States attend and benefit from K-12 education, it makes more sense to put your efforts into improving those areas. Not that just throwing money at the situation is the answer. However, making major improvements there will benefit those who are not going to go on to college and would also benefit those who do go to college by helping them obtain a quality of learning to a higher standard commensurate with college level classes.
Help the many at the expense of the few seems to be a popular leftist meme ordinarily. Raise taxes on the rich and productive to spread the wealth to the lower echelons. Why should it not be so now. Help the majority in the K 12 system even at the expense of the fewer who go to college?
You are aware that the cost of higher education has risen at a pace much higher than inflation? The University of Illinois could do what the universities in Arizona did, which was to cut programs and classes. It is not all doom and gloom. They just need to realize there is not an unending pit of money they can draw from to fund higher ed.
How about reducing overly high salaries of administrative staff? Maybe reduce the number of staff. Take a look at everyone’s salaries. Do they need everyone? Higher education has gotten out of control. The gravy years of people being able to afford them are over. Deal with it. Everyone else is.