Governor targets higher education for highest cuts

May 21, 2005

Clemson University has once again come under Gov. Mark Sanford’s budget sword. In his vetoes of the legislature’s recommended state budget, the governor cut more than $28 million from public college budgets, including several million for Clemson specifically, in Extension Service, research and engineering.

Maybe he just doesn’t like orange?

It wasn’t just orange that made him see red. His vetoes also included:

n $2 million, Francis Marion University’s Center for the Child: The center researches early childhood evaluation and intervention to "improve the academic, social, emotional and economic future of all children and their families." The university’s Web site notes that "two out of five children are born in single-parent homes; one out of five children are born to mothers without a high school education; one in three children may not graduate from high school." Its work and research are designed to improve those statistics, not just for the current generation of children but for families overall.

Didn’t someone once say the children are our future?

n $1.5 million, Medical University of South Carolina nursing programs: According to a December survey from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, "collegiate nursing programs turned away 11,000 qualified applicants last fall because of a lack of faculty." In an August 2003 interview, Peter Nuerhaus, senior associate dean for research at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, estimated that in 2005, the number of projected open registered nurses’ positions nationwide would be 125,000. By 2010, he estimates, the number will rise to 213,500. By 2020, the projected shortage is 800,000.

Looks like in South Carolina, nursing may not be a healthy career choice.

It may not be the best environment for advancements in engineering, either. Also slashed by the point of the governor’s veto pen was $1.2 million for Clemson University’s engineering and research centers.

And despite the contributions Clemson University’s public service and extension service programs make to the quality of life for South Carolinians statewide (and as part of the mission under which the land-grant university was established, thus not a portion of its undertaking it can casually discontinue) the governor has vetoed half of the $3.6 million the legislature appropriated. We’ve written extensively on the value of extension service programs so we won’t belabor all the areas previously discussed. But PSA aids not just the individual South Carolinian with the services it offers and the research it conducts; economic development and existing businesses are also beneficiaries.

The Belle W. Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science (cut $5 million for one-time funding for expansion) conducts research and serves as an educational center on ecology, natural resources, soil, vegetation and wildlife.

Also within the department of PSA are the Genomics Institute, the Home & Garden Information Center, the Institute for Economic & Community Development, the Institute on Family & Neighborhood Life, Leadership South Carolina, the Nutrition Information & Resource Center, the South Carolina Botanical Garden and the Strom Thurmond Institute of Government & Public Affairs, among others.

The governor says existing state agencies can do what Extension Services does and did away with $1.8 million in funding. If programs are indeed duplicated, we wonder how the public would choose to receive the benefits. Let’s see — free information, education and research programs from a public university or county extension office vs. waiting in line tangled in government bureaucracy?

Also on the governor’s slice and dice menu:

n $1.3 million, Clemson University’s Call Me Mister program: The program to train minority — and male — teachers for the elementary grades provides financial and job placement assistance as well as education, with the result of providing positive role models for South Carolina’s youth and a brighter future for those trained for the classroom. The program has received national attention in its short life, one that began with efforts from the university’s development and education divisions who sought out private funding and grants. Now the program turns to the state to help it help South Carolina.

Instead the governor drops it into the Veg-o-matic and hits the switch.

The governor also cut $174,000 for Special Olympics, saying it could be done better by private interests. Special Olympics, one of the most joyful programs both for participants and observers? Special Olympics, an organization that already relies heavily on volunteers and donations and essentially is funded by what is little more than a blip on the state’s budget screen?
Come on, Mr. Sanford. You might as well just beat up a puppy.

In all, Mr. Sanford’s 163 vetoes represent almost $96 million in cuts. Higher education suffers almost one-third of them.

We acknowledge and appreciate that the governor did at least let the mandated per-pupil spending reach long-ago promised levels and agreed that law enforcement and health care were important issues government has a responsibility to advance.

But hot on the heels of his disservice to K-12 public education called Put Parents in Charge and its failure, it’s unfortunate he has chosen public service and higher education as his next targets.

Copyright 2005, Anderson Independent Mail. All Rights Reserved.