President's Office says cuts may cost 1,500 jobs

by Daniel J. Fitzgibbons, Chronicle staff

ov. Mitt Romney's proposal to reorganize the state public higher education system would cut the University's funding by $65 million and force the layoff of 1,500 employees across the five campuses, according to analysis by the President's Office.
According to the analysis, called a "best case scenario," the plan would cut funding for the UMass system by 15 percent, some $15 million more than the two previous years combined. The Amherst campus would lose $30 million, followed by Boston ($10.5 million), Lowell ($9.1 million) Dartmouth ($6.3 million), and the Medical School ($4.6 million) under the Romney plan, says the report.

     Budget officials say the governor's proposal would also eliminate funding for Commonwealth College and the $2 million endowed chair matching funds program.

     The $22.86 billion fiscal 2004 state budget filed last week by Romney calls for $150 million in savings in public higher education through a combination of regional mergers, tuition hikes, financial aid reductions and the gradual elimination of state support for some schools, such as the Medical School, Massachusetts College of Art and Massachusetts Maritime Academy, leading to their eventual privatization.

     The Amherst campus would become a free-standing, research university with its own president and board of trustees, according to the Romney blueprint. The proposal calls for maintaining state support for the campus and allowing the school to retain tuition, which would be set to "market rates." The plan also calls for increasing enrollment by 15,000 students over the next few years.

     Meanwhile, the Boston, Dartmouth and Lowell campuses would become regional institutions with strong ties to nearby businesses and industries. That move, says the President's Office, would diminish the missions of the three campuses by making them part of regional "K to job" training consortiums.

     The proposal also would consolidate several state and community colleges, including Berkshire Community College and the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts; Greenfield and Holyoke community colleges; and Mount Wachusett Community College and Fitchburg State College. Some administrative functions across the higher education system also would be shared regionally.

     The plan also targets the University President's Office for closure, a move Romney says would save $14 million, and places all public campuses under a new secretary of education, Peter Nessen.

     The President's Office study says Romney's plan will add two layers of "administrative bureaucracy" to higher education by establishing the secretariat of education and seven regional councils, which, the report notes, would all require staffing.

     In addition, the President's Office contends that the new organization would create a "top-down management structure" that would eliminate campus autonomy. Each state and community college currently has its own board of trustees, which share some governance with the Board of Higher Education.

     This week, as Romney administration officials began pitching the budget to taxpayers around the state, Nessen said the higher education system must save $150 million and reorganization is the only road to follow.

     He also denied that plans for the Amherst campus call for privatization, the term used by the President's Office to describe the plan.

     The Romney plan, which Nessen told the Springfield Union-News that "people are interpreting without understanding," has been greeted with skepticism by lawmakers and higher education officials. Last week, Rep. John H. Rogers, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, questioned whether Romney's streamlining plans for state government could save more than $100 million. Rogers, however, did not rule out consideration of any of the governor's proposals, including elimination of the President's Office.

     As the state budget process continues, Rogers' committee will develop its own version of a spending plan, which must be approved by the House before the
Senate proposes its own budget.

     After both chambers approve budgets, differences in the two bills must be resolved by a joint conference committee before final approval by the Legislature.

     Once the measure is passed by the Legislature, the bill goes to the governor, who can veto sections, propose changes or sign the measure as written. Vetoes are subject to override by both chambers.