Did you guys see this report about higher education funding? Personally I hope to see some kind of proposal on next years ballot as I know higher ed needs A LOT more funding.
Jane Rawlings, assistant publisher of The Pueblo Chieftain said:
‘This is really important not just for the economic development, but the economic maintenance of our state.’
This is from the Pueblo Chieftain (but I am sure its in all the main papers):
GOLDEN — A group tasked with identifying the challenges facing Colorado’s colleges and proposing solutions on Thursday recommended a statewide ballot question in November 2011 for a tax to fund higher education.
The Higher Education Strategic Planning Task Force, seated almost a year ago by Gov. Bill Ritter, delivered its report to Ritter on Thursday and said its foremost worry is that funding for colleges is insufficient to continue the present level of service they provide.
“Citizens of Colorado need to decide what kind of higher education system they want and what they’re willing to pay for it,” said Jim Lyons, co-chairman of the task force, during a presentation of the plan to the Colorado Commission on Higher Education at the Colorado School of Mines.
“Our view is this ought to be on the ballot next November,” Lyons said. “We can’t wait.”
The group identified $760 million as the minimum amount of state funding needed by higher education to provide the current level of service, which would mean losing ground in that regard as time passes.
In Ritter’s proposed budget, announced Tuesday, $555 million is earmarked for higher education during fiscal year 2011-12. That’s the same amount the Legislature appropriated this year, and about $100 million in financial aid, but absent is the $89 million in federal stimulus money that propped up higher education this year for the last foreseeable time.
Any less than the present level of funding would have dire consequences, according to the report.
“Schools and programs may either close or be privatized, with no state support,” if the accelerated erosion of funding continues as it has during the past decade, according to the report. “Access will be limited.”
In order to move Colorado from second-last in the nation in its investment in higher education to the top one-third of the nation, the sustained funding level would need to reach $1.5 billion annually, according to the report
Potential funding remedies identified in the report include restoring the income tax level from 4.63 percent to 5 percent and the sales tax level from 2.9 percent to 3 percent to raise $445 million; expanding sales tax to specific services to generate $550 million; implementing a 1 percent surcharge on oil and gas extraction to raise $15 million; implementing a mill levy of 4 statewide to raise $350 million; or imposing the same mill levy just in counties where an institution of higher education is located to gain $240 million.
The link:
http://www.chieftain.com/article_b97...cc4c002e0.html