Thank God......

[who]

Thank God for Alabama?
by
Glenn Howze
President, Alabama Conference of AAUP
gho...@ag.auburn.edu

When groups of Alabamians have gathered to bemoan the poor economic
conditions of the state compared to the rest of the nation or region, a
common refrain has been "Thank God for Mississippi!" As bad as things had
been in the state, we could always count on them having been worse in
Mississippi. Not any more. Alabama may well have won those bragging
rights, at least as they apply to higher education.

In the March/April 1996 issue of Academe, the lead article on the
economic status of the profession was titled "Not So Bad". It noted that
"for the third consecutive year the average salary of full-time faculty in
the United State rose more rapidly than the official price index." Faculty
salaries are rising faster than inflation. Not in Alabama. During that
same period, salaries at public institutions in Alabama have remained flat
in all but one year. (Happily, several private institutions in the
state--Samford, Spring Hill and Birmingham Southern--experienced salary
increases at rates greater than the national average.) At the same time,
public colleges and universities in neighboring states of Mississippi,
Geogia, Tennessee and Florida experienced increases in their salary levels
at or above the national rates. Only Alabama lagged behind in the region
and nation in keeping up with inflation.

Of course, what makes this bad situation even et is that we all know that
the current year is not any better. By now, most of you have looked in
your pay envelopes. No surprises. After cuts in appropriations for
higher education in the previous year, the legislature approved level
funding for our four-year colleges and universities this year. Any
raises given this year are from monies obtained by raising tuition or
downsizing our faculties. Our Boards have been reluctant to raise
tuition. In fact, this is yet another year when changes in our salary
level fails to keep pace with inflation.. This year we will fall still
further behind our colleagues in other states.

It is interesting to compare the Alabama state appropriation for higher
education with those for other states in the region. The per student
expenditure in Alabama is below the regional average and below
expenditures for bordering states. The 1994-95 per student
appropriation was $4,134 compared with $4,503 for the region. The figures
for the bordering states are $4,290 for Mississippi, $4,537 for Florida,
$5,018 for Georgia and $4,952 for Tennessee. Of course, the comparison
for this year will be worse since our neighboring states experienced
increases while we have the same budgets last year.

One sometimes hears the argument that the amount of money spent on
education is unrelated to quality of education. Some of our politicians
and citizens in this state argue that we can spend less than other states
on higher education and still have a superior outcome. I think not.
Check the data. While the correlation may not perfect, per pupil
expenditure will explain more of the variation in educational quality than
any competing variable or set of variables. Compare quality rankings of
universities in your own discipline with per student expenditure and I
think that you will come to this conclusion.

Of course, faculty salaries are not the only indicator that public
colleges in the state have fallen on hard economic times. Faculties are
being downsized through attrition and early buyouts. We are all seeing
student/faculty ratios increase. We are all working more--teaching more
students, advising more and doing more committee work. Budgets for
maintenance have been cut to the bone. It's been years since there has
been major appropriations for capital improvements on most of the campuses
of our four-year colleges and universities.

What are the prospects for the future? Most observers predict that the
legislature will increase appropriations for the coming year. Expect a
raise. However, don't expect that raise to make up for the lack of raises
over the last several years. Nor should you expect any significant raises
in the following years. Most observers predict that a year of good
raises will be followed by years without raises. It's a pattern.

Why cannot the funding of higher education in Alabama keep pace with the
region and nation? Is the Alabama economy worse off than those of
neighboring states or the rest of the nation? If times are hard then
college professors like everyone else should tighten their belts and make
do without raises. But the economy has not been bad in Alabama during the
last several years. Alabama, like other states in the region and the
nation, has experienced rapid economic development during the last few
years.. Increases in per capita incomes in the state has more than kept
pace with inflation. Unemployment has dropped. Public revenues are up.
All things considered, the economy of the state has improved over the last
several years and is still improving. It is certainly growing at a rate
equal to the region and the nation.

An answer as to why there is a problem with the funding of higher
education can be found in last Spring's battle over the education
appropriation. Unfortunately in most peoples minds, the battle was
defined as one between K-12 and higher education. The pot of money was
defined as the educational trust fund. The Governor and key legislators
characterized the fund as being in trouble and then pitted K -12 against
higher education. College presidents, the AEA and members of the
legislature jumped in to protect their turfs and the result was not
pretty. In the end, education in general was shortchanged and students at
all levels were the real victims.

Few of us would argue that there K - 12 is over-funded in Alabama. At
the present time, we would be hard put to invoke the phrase "Thank God for
Mississippi! when discussing the health of public primary and secondary
education in the state. K-12 suffers from the same problems as higher
education--low faculty salaries, large classes, a lack of funds for
capital expenditures, and inadequate maintenance budgets. . K-12 is in
serious need of increased funding. It took the federal courts to convince
our leaders that something must be done. Perhaps K - 12 faired better in
the last legislature but it is far being adequately funded.

The problem is the size of the financial pot available for education.
There is just not enough money earmarked for education to go around.
Currently, education in the state is largely funded by sales taxes which
are put into the Educational Trust Fund. Both higher education and K -
12 depend on this fund for their appropriations. Currently,
significantly increasing the size of the Trust Fund would require
increasing the sales tax. Few would argue that sales taxes in Alabama
are too low.

In most states, a large portion of the funds for public education come
from property taxes. Not in Alabama. Funding of education from property
taxes in Alabama is at about 1/3 the national average. Unfortunately, it
is extemely difficult to raise property taxes in the state. It takes a
constitutional amendment to do it. Consequently, whenever the state or
local government want to raise taxes they go after the sales tax. It's
the easiest and also the most regressive. Alabama must find the political
will to tap other sources of funding for education.

What's to be done. It is time that those of us who work in higher
education in Alabama to begin the hard task of educating our citizens and
public officials about the importance of education for the future the
state. The economic development of the state is integrally tied to the
existence of a trained labor force. It is time for us to seek out
public forums--television, radio, newspapers and public meetings in order
to provide the public with 1) an objective assessment of the health of
higher education in the state and 2) the prospects for the economic
development of the state if the gap isn't closed. Compare Alabama
personal income levels and other measures of well-being with those of
surrounding states. We are already paying a terrible price for the lack
of investment in education. While our economy is improving, the economies
of surrounding states are improving at faster rates and the gap is
widening.

We must come to the realization that no one other than the academic
community is going to make the case for education, especially for higher
education. We shouldn't view the task as self-serving. More than our
salaries hang in the balance. The economic well-being of our state is at
stake. The futures of the children of the state are at risk.

The Alabama Conference of the AAUP is establishing a lobbying effort at
the state level. We plan to provide the public and the legislature with
information documenting the poor state of higher education in Alabama and
with evidence linking the economic health of a state with its investment
in human capital. This effort is long overdue in Alabama. The effort
to emphasize the importance of higher education to the economic
development of a state began 40 years ago in North Carolina and 30 years
ago in such states as Texas and Georgia. Since then, both the higher
education systems and the economies have prospered in these states.

AAUP is ready to join with other educational and citizens groups in this
effort. If you are interested in being a part of this effort, telephone
me at 334-844-5631 or email me at gho...@ag.auburn.edu.

It is time for action. Do we want folks in surrounding states saying,
"Thank God for Alabama"?