Bobby Jindal has promised to find money to address the funding crisis facing Louisiana’s public colleges and universities but besides the obvious dire financial straits in which the state currently finds itself, two important obstacles must be overcome by our absentee governor: the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and Grover Norquist.
The odds of appeasing just one in efforts to raise needed funding for higher education will be difficult enough, given Jindal’s allegiance to the two. Obtaining the blessings of both while simultaneously distracted by the siren’s call of the Republican presidential nomination will be virtually impossible.
Higher education, already hit with repeated cuts by the Jindal administration, is facing additional cuts of up to $600 million, or 82 percent of its current budget, according to news coming out of the House Appropriations Committee earlier this month. http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/04/louisianas_higher_education_bu.html
Such a fiscal scenario could result in the closure of some schools and across the board discontinuation of programs.
Moody’s, the bond-rating service, has warned that Louisiana higher education cannot absorb any further cuts. http://www.treasury.state.la.us/Lists/SiteArticlesByCat/DispForm_Single.aspx?List=c023d63e%2Dac65%2D439d%2Daf97%2Dda71d8688dff&ID=884
Louisiana has already cut per student spending by 42 percent since fiscal year 2008 (compared to the national average of 6 percent), fourth highest in the nation behind Arizona, New Hampshire and Oregon. The actual cut in dollars, $4,715 per student, is second only to the $4,775 per student cut by New Mexico. To help offset those cuts, Louisiana colleges and universities have bumped tuition by 38 percent, 10th highest in the nation but still a shade less than half the 78.4 percent increase for Arizona students. http://www.cbpp.org/research/recent-deep-state-higher-education-cuts-may-harm-students-and-the-economy-for-years-to-come?fa=view&id=3927
But that’s all part of the game plan for ALEC, the “model legislation” alliance of state legislators heavily funded by the Koch brothers which has as its overall objective the privatization of nearly all public services now taken for granted: prisons, pension plans, medical insurance, and education, to name but a few. http://www.cbpp.org/research/alec-tax-and-budget-proposals-would-slash-public-services-and-jeopardize-economic-growth?fa=view&id=3901
Jindal has already incorporated some of ALEC’s privatization proposals, namely state employee medical insurance and elementary and secondary education. He met with less success in attempts to initiate prison privatization and state retirement reform.
ALEC also proposes abolishing state income taxes, another proposal floated and then quickly abandoned by Jindal but pushed successfully by Kansas Gov. Brownback. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/04/21/vwelfap/
And then there is Norquist, the anti-tax Republican operative who founded Americans for Tax Reform and who somehow survived the Jack Abramoff scandal and thrived. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Abramoff_Indian_lobbying_scandal
What strange hold does he have over Jindal?
The pledge.
Jindal, as did a couple dozen Louisiana legislators, signed onto Norquist’s “no-tax” pledge—a promise not to raise taxes under any circumstances. The pledge even prompted Jindal to veto a 4-cent cigarette tax renewal in 2011 because in his twisted logic, it was somehow a new tax. The legislature had to adopt a last-minute constitutional amendment to make the tax permanent.
Undeterred, Jindal, through communications director Mike Reed, has said he would support a cigarette tax increase this year only if it is offset with a tax cut elsewhere. This despite estimates that a higher tax would not only generate needed income for the state, but would, by encouraging smokes to quit and teens to not start smoking, create long-term health care savings for the state. His veto also flew in the face of a 1997 article that Jindal authored while secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals in which he said, “Society must recover those costs which could have been avoided had the individual not chosen the risky behavior only to prevent others from having to bear the costs.” http://theadvocate.com/news/11930951-123/lawmaker-proposes-154-state-cigarette
Not to be confused with the “no-go” zones of Jindal’s vivid imagination, the “no-tax” pledge apparently is a good thing for Republicans and tea partiers and is considered sacrosanct to those who have taken the oath even if it locks politicians into the impossible situation of trying to resolve a $1.6 billion budgetary crisis while not increasing revenue.
Jindal routinely runs proposed legislation by Norquist for his blessings, according to Jindal spokesperson Reed who admitted as much. http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2015/03/in_jindals_world_tax_is_a_tax.html
Even U.S. Sen. David Vitter signed the pledge but has assured voters it won’t be binding on him as governor—a dubious promise that would make him unique among signers. After all, a pledge is a pledge and when one signs it, so what difference would it make which office he holds?
So, how does all this figure into the budget crisis for higher education in Louisiana?
In a word, privatization. Or, taking the “state” out of “state universities.”
While neither Jindal nor any legislator has dared breathe the word privatization as it regards the state’s colleges and universities, at least one Jindal appointee, Board of Regents Chairman Roy Martin of Alexandria, has broached the subject, speaking he said, strictly as an individual. http://theadvocate.com/news/11716059-123/regents-look-at-privatizing-public
The slashing of higher education budgets appears to be a pattern as governors attempt to wean colleges and universities from dependence on state funding, transitioning their status from state-supported to state-assisted to state-located. http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/02/27/scott-walker-bobby-jindal-aim-to-slash-higher-ed-funding
Privatization of state colleges and universities would, of course, push tuition rates even higher, making a college education cost prohibitive for many. But that dovetails nicely with the ALEC agenda as income disparity continues to widen with ever more generous tax laws that benefit the super-rich while placing growing burdens on lower-income taxpayers. By winnowing out those who can least afford college, privatization necessarily enhances the selection process to serve the elite and at the same time, opens up additional revenue opportunities for those in position to take advantage of privatized services such as book stores, printing, food services, and general maintenance. http://gse.buffalo.edu/FAS/Johnston/privatization.html
There is already a backlog of nearly $2 billion in maintenance projects on state college and university campuses just waiting for some lucky entrepreneur with the right connections.
http://theadvocate.com/home/5997316-125/backlog-of-maintenance
States like Louisiana, by such actions as simply increasing our cigarette tax (third lowest in the nation) and being less generous with corporate tax breaks and initiatives, could have reduced the size of the spending cuts or avoided them altogether. Sadly, that was not done and those looking at someone to blame cannot point the finger only at Jindal; legislators have been complicit from the beginning and must shoulder the responsibility for the present mess.
As a result, state colleges and universities have already cut staff and eliminated entire programs to such a degree that Louisiana’s high school seniors already are considering options out of state and other states are obliging. https://lahigheredconfessions.wordpress.com/
Should the legislature adopt any measures to raise revenue for higher education, such measures likely would be vetoed by Jindal if he gets the message from Norquist to do so.
If that occurs, his palpable disregard for the welfare of this state as evidenced by his growing absence will be dwarfed by the affront of taking his cue of governance from a Washington, D.C. lobbyist as opposed to listening to his constituents who want real solutions and not political grandstanding.
But that certainly would be nothing new for Bobby Jindal.
Tom: I signed that pledge yet I did vote for the grad act. Furthermore, I will never support privatization of our universities just like I did not support it for the LSU hospitals.
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It is time for Grover Norquist to be run out of Louisiana along with those who run ALEC. They are not residents of Louisiana, they don’t pay taxes in Louisiana and therefore should keep their noses out of our business. It is time to destroy ALEC. They are the ones behind all these radical rightwing laws such as stand your ground. AS for Norquist, he thinks the country owes him something. Jindal has set our state back at least 30 years with his pipe dream of becoming president. He couldn’t be president of the SPCA much less the United States! He is a babbling idiot!
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/mar/26/glenn-beck-accuses-grover-norquist-of-ties-to-isla/?page=all
Grover Norquist is a punk who definitely has some questionable friends, but there is nothing wrong with anyone signing a no new tax pledge. We don’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem. Government isn’t supposed to take care of everyone’s needs from cradle to the grave. When is the last time you have seem common sense budget proposals from either party?
Question: at which level of spending would these conservatives stop saying that the problem is purely a spending problem and that revenues are quite sufficient? What do they want? That we should go back to times of dirt roads (and higher education being only accessible to a few)? In a civilized society, yes, it is only very proper that the people pay taxes for goods and services that government that are for the benefit of everyone, one of those being higher education, and that everyone pays their fair share. Society is a chain in that it’s only as strong as the weakest link. When you strengthen that link (one way of doing so is through providing access to education or training) then all of society gains a benefit but when you choose to neglect that link then eventually all of society suffers.
First, they came for the public works department. …. GOP has been selling our infrastructure out from under us. Privatization is theft. We rent things we used to own.
Representative Richard, with all due respect, the GRAD Act legislation was a key part of the move toward where we are today. I saw in 2010 when it was first announced that it was a Trojan horse that on the surface looked like it would encourage colleges and universities to increase retention and graduate more students. But the actual impact would be to shrink institutions and set some of them up to fail. And that these failures would be blamed on the institutions, not on the policy which rigs the game. The impact would also be to send faculty out of state and silence the rest. At the time, however, I really thought the losers would be the smaller regionals and the HBCUs and that they would be sacrificed long before any long term damage happened to LSU and maybe also ULL and LaTech. I was not surprised when the UNO/SUNO merger was proposed the year after GRAD Act. I was not surprised when Southern failed GRAD Act. I was not surprised when increasingly people started talking about privatizing Grambling and LSUA. I never dreamed that LSU would declare financial exigency and that they are seriously talking about cancelling fall classes. Perhaps it is partially because the Board of Regents gave us a reprieve with the admission requirements via the Developmental Education Pilot, and partly because some of us were supposed to have rolled over and close/merge/privatize by now. If you are interested in what I wrote 5 years ago, here you go: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/06/12/875226/-LA-Grad-Act-HB-1171-Louisiana-s-Higher-Edugeddon
I didn’t nail it all but came really close. How? Basic statistics.
And yes, I predicted closures/mergers/privatization then. It was pretty obvious to me, anyway.
Sincerely, a (for now) anonymous junior administrator (in admissions) in one of our higher education institutions.
Another excellent article.
I have a simple solution to all of the Louisiana Politicians who signed on to “the Pledge” just REMOVE your name, that’s all…remove it!! if not, I can only assume its because they lack the courage to do so….ALEC also needs to be flushed. The cynic that lives within my soul, tells me, that the privatization of education, among other initiatives, could well be part of a larger plan for some to make $ Billions, at the expense of the masses…..Our legislative body, with a few exceptions have hooked themselves to the Jindal train,which is about to derail, the sad part about it is, they will not feel a thing, but the rest of us will…..
Well said!
Something else that keeps bothering me, are those who keep yacking on, and on, about lazy, non contributing, moochers, who use our safety nets…..EBT, Medicaid, etc, and they absolutely turn purple at the idea of paying taxes, matter of fact some doing business here do not pay any, and yet they use our resources, roads, bridges, environment, so by definition, does that make them “moochers” too? We had a “Stelly tax” which was supported by the people, and the Legis. repealed it without, the peoples consent…..so, looks to me like we have plenty of “moochers” some just more well connected than others……..the bottom line is, we must all pay taxes, to support our infrastructure, or else it starts crumbling, and we are witnessing evidence of that!
David Vitter, is not fooling me with his “pledge” comment, ANYONE, who is running for office in Louisiana, should have one pledge only, and that is to the people of Louisiana.
First, in terms of our universities, as painful as it may be, tie a knot and hang on the best you can until we get a new governor. Once we start down the path to the “dark side” (aka “privatization”), forever it will be. You want privatization, look at jokes like the University of Phoenix. I taught there for a bit and got out. Most of the students are unable to get into a state university due to entrance requirements. The only entrance requirement UOP has is that you be eligible for financial aid (i.e., loans). The credits won’t transfer anywhere. The degrees are largely regarded as useless. The classes and course content are an absolute joke and an insult to higher education. Our state universities need to be better than this. Some damned lean times are ahead, but let’s all pull together and with time we will get through it.
Second, don’t let “Diaper Dave” become governor. By the way Dave, what was your preference: Huggies, Pampers, Pullups, or cloth? We don’t need that sicko in the governor’s chair.
Third, the legislature is as much to blame for this as anyone. They either stood passive or joined Jindal like a bunch of lemmings and ruined this state. We have an election this fall and every one of them should be thrown out of office.
Fourthly, Kristy Nichols and a some of Jindal’s cabinet needs to consider finding employment out of the state fairly soon. I cannot imagine someone idiot enough in this state to hire these malicious underachievers. Seriously, I know they’re out there, but again, seriously – how could anyone with any sense of pride in their home state hire these folks?
Finally, whoever we put in office will need to look at some crisis intervention to stop the bleeding, as well as look at how quality of life for our descendants two to three generations down the road should look, do some serious planning and make some hard decisions and stick to them. Hey, we’re making hard decisions now but in a totally reactive mode. How about making decisions moreso in a proactive mode for a change? Most of us want to leave something good behind for our children and grandchildren. That is one of the reasons we do estate planning. Perhaps we should also apply the mindset to our state government.
We have so much to offer in this state in terms of potential for quality of life. Let’s try to get things back on track in our state government to where we can leave something good behind for our children and grandchildren.