Patrick proposes 10-year, $2 billion higher education bill
BOSTON --Gov. Deval Patrick, hoping to revitalize the state's public colleges and universities, will file a 10-year, $2 billion higher education spending bill Wednesday.
The bond bill, which relies on borrowed money, includes new building or renovation projects at each of the state community and state college campuses and the University of Massachusetts.
Patrick said the hefty price tag is needed to put the state's higher education system on a par with the rest of the country and the world.
"If we ask our students to put forth their best effort to succeed then we must be willing to invest in the tools to help them -- their laboratories, their classrooms and their libraries," Patrick said.
The plan calls for $1 billion for large scale improvements at the five University of Massachusetts campuses and another $1 billion for improvements at the state and community college campuses.
Among the projects identified in the bill are: a new academic building at the University of Massachusetts in Boston ($100 million); a new science laboratory at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst ($100 million); and a center for design innovation at the Massachusetts College of Art ($25 million).
Topping the list of state and community college projects is $88 million for modernizing and creating an addition to the Conant Science Center at Bridgewater State College. Patrick's top education adviser Dana Mohler-Faria is also president of the college.
The last major, 10-year higher education bond bill was a $618 million bond bill approved in 1995. There are approximately 260,000 students currently enrolled the state's public higher education system.
Some of the money in the bond bill isn't designated for specific projects. That's intended to give education officials the flexibility needed to address emergencies and other priorities that will inevitably emerge over the next decade, according to the administration.
At the same time, the Board of Higher Education will eliminate the requirement that campuses provide matching funds in order to obtain state funding for big projects -- a move designed to ease pressure to hike student fees.
The bill will face scrutiny in the Legislature. It's the latest in a string of high profile initiatives by Patrick including a 10-year $1 billion life sciences initiative and a plan to bring three resort-style casinos to Massachusetts.
House Republican Leader Brad Jones, R-North Reading, said the state needs to invest in higher education, but he's still trying to figure out how this plan fits into other long term proposals made by Patrick.
In August, Patrick unveiled a five-year $12 billion capital plan, designed to pay for transportation infrastructure repairs, new housing, environmental protections and libraries. The bond bill also included $750 million over five years for campus improvements -- the first part of the 10-year plan unveiled Tuesday.
"At the end of the day you have to set priorities and make all those things tie together in a way that's fiscally responsible," he said. "I haven't necessarily seen that yet."
Patricia F. Plummer, Chancellor of the Board of Higher Education, praised Patrick's latest spending plan.
"We are particularly pleased to see that every single college and campus within the Commonwealth's public higher education system will benefit from this historic piece of legislation," Plummer said in a written statement.
By 2012, according to the administration, planned state-funded higher education capital investments will represent 10 percent of the state's total bond-funded capital programs, compared with 3 percent in fiscal year 2007.
The projects in the latest bill include recommendations from the state Board of Education, the Board of Trustees of the University of Massachusetts, and the heads of the college campuses.
