Monday, Gov. Haley Barbour unveiled his proposed state budget for the fiscal year 2011. Among other things, this proposed budget will consolidate Mississippi’s eight public universities into five, including merging Mississippi State University and the Mississippi University for Women.
We do not necessarily find the idea of merging MSU and MUW objectionable as long as the quality of education does not suffer. Certainly, some money could be saved by not having to pay two sets of administrative salaries. Duplicate programs at both schools could be consolidated, which can raise quality and improve the university’s stature to potential new students.
While outgoing MUW President Claudia Limbert opposes the plan and MSU President Mark Keenum has yet to endorse or denounce it, the merger plan seems to be merely a smokescreen. Sure, cutting administrative costs will save money, but those salaries are a drop in the bucket of the entire state budget.
Currently, the state spends about 20 percent of its money on colleges and universities. Barbour is proposing a 12 percent budget cut in that area.
In addition, the forestry, agricultural and veterinary medicine schools here at MSU are funded separately by the state from the rest of the university. Barbour is proposing those now be included in MSU’s appropriations. This could end up not being a big deal, or it could mean a drastic decrease in quality to those programs.
These budget cuts Barbour is proposing are disturbing. Mississippi sits at or near the bottom of the country in nearly every statistical category. The only way that will ever change is with well-funded, low-cost universities which provide hard-working Mississippians a key out of poverty and also attract strong minds from other states.
By gutting the higher education budget, we save money in the short term, but what does it cost in the long run? What programs will be cut over the next 10 years? What majors will no longer be offered at MSU? How will these budget cuts affect the state’s economy in the long run, and will they end up costing the state more than fully funding education would?
As required by law, the budget Barbour has proposed is a balanced one. Unfortunately, in these tough economic times, revenue is not being generated as much as it has been in the past. This means the state must cut spending, raise taxes or go into debt.
Raising taxes is obviously not an option with Barbour’s thinly-veiled future political ambitions, nor is going into debt. The state has a “rainy day” fund of excess money for dire situations, and as stormy as the current situation seems, Barbour plans to spread out that money over the next few years. Barbour is assuming a worst-case scenario that the state’s current economic troubles will continue over the next few years.
Unfortunately for Mississippi, our governor has decided to abort the future of the state for a short-term gain, and his successors may be faced with a state even further behind the rest of the country.
The Reflector editorial board is made up of opinion editor Harry Nelson, news editor Kyle Wrather, assistant news editor April Windham, sports editor Justin Ammon, entertainment editor Bailey Singletary, photo editor Ariel Nachtigal, copy editors Dee Works and Amy Addington, online editor Adam Kazery, graphic designer Carl Carbonell, managing editor Aubra Whitten and editor in chief Carl Smith.