UMass Budget - Good News and Action to Defend Higher Ed
10/15/2020
Dear FSU Members,
The good news is that Governor Baker is proposing to level-fund public higher education! This is a product of the campaign that the MTA – ourselves – has carried out during the past months.
If Baker’s budget proposal passes, almost every campus gets the same as the Governor proposed back in January, which was essentially level over FY2020. UMass gets a little cut from Baker’s original FY2021 budget, but it is still higher than FY2020. (MTA is looking into why UMass got a bit less than originally proposed).
However, we still need to get the legislature to pass this (and improve on it). MTA will push for something very specific in the budget demanding an end to furloughs and layoffs, and push for improving on the level-funding.
What can we do? Please save the date – October 29th, 3:30-4:30pm – and register for the Boston area action to support funding for higher education. Register here.
Please join the MTA and Boston-area supporters of higher education for a teach-in and mass phone call to the state legislature on October 29th at 3:30. You can join us either on zoom or at a physically-distanced action at the State House in order to send a clear message to policymakers that public higher education must be at least level-funded during this emergency.
The Teach-In will include student, faculty, and staff speakers from Bunker Hill Community College, Roxbury Community College, MassArt, and UMass Boston. Join us as Boston-area higher ed institutions demand (at least) level-funding from the state government.
Steve Striffler
FSU President
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