'91 WAS A YEAR OF MONEY WOES

For Southeast Missouri State University and education in general in Missouri, 1991 was the year of the "B," as in budget cuts and Proposition B.

The bottom line was money or more specifically the lack of it.

Educators from the university level on down said schools desperately needed increased funding to provide quality education.

Cheered on by educators, particularly those in higher education, Missouri's lawmakers submitted a $385 million tax-and-reform package for education to Missouri voters.

Supporters said the measure tied increased funding for public schools and colleges and universities to reforms.

The measure's reforms for elementary and secondary education included financial incentives to reduce class sizes, additional funding of the Parents As Teachers program, alternative teacher certification and increasing the minimum school year from 174 to 177 days.

Reforms for higher education included increased funding of scholarships, expansion of community college services, added funding for building and equipment maintenance, and granting power to the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education to eliminate duplicated, unnecessary or inefficient programs on college campuses.

But opponents said Proposition B's three-eighths-cent sales tax provision would unfairly burden the poor and add to the "tax overload" on middle-income earners. Proposition B would have raised an estimated $5.14 billion over a 10-year period, including $2.28 billion in sales tax revenue.

Opponents also questioned a part of the measure dealing with job training and business tax credits.

Higher education officials from across the state, including officials at Southeast Missouri State, campaigned hard for Proposition B. Throughout the summer and fall, it was a constant topic of comment among university officials, faculty and staff.

Across the state, university campuses held voter registration drives. At Southeast, more than 1,800 students registered in an on-campus registration drive during the fall semester.

Many of Southeast's students, including student leaders, voiced strong support for the education measure.

A number of business groups in Missouri backed Proposition B, as did the state's political leaders from the governor on down.

But in the end, it wasn't enough.

On Nov. 5, Missouri voters resoundingly rejected Proposition B by a margin of more than 2-1.

In Cape Girardeau County, the measure was defeated by a 70-30 percent margin, 4,324 for to 10,053 against. The measure carried in only two of the 16 precincts in the city of Cape Girardeau, home of Southeast Missouri State. In fact, out of 37 Cape Girardeau County precincts, those two city wards were the only ones where the measure carried.

Voters in the surrounding counties of Bollinger, Scott, Perry and Stoddard also rejected Proposition B by large margins.

The overwhelming defeat stunned both lawmakers and educators alike.

Rep. Ken Jacob, D-Columbia, summed it up best. "I feel like we went to the mountaintop and the whole mountain collapsed."

While higher education was generally united behind Proposition B, that was not the case at the elementary and secondary level, where many teachers questioned the measure and, in particular, the fact that no new foundation formula had been worked out. The foundation formula is the basic method by which state aid is distributed to public schools.

Kala Stroup, Southeast's president, concluded there were a number of factors that led to the defeat of Proposition B.

"The bill was complex. There was mistrust of politicians. Elementary and secondary education statewide was not united in its support of the proposal.

"Anti-tax sentiment was strong, and was exacerbated by the economic recession," Stroup said in a memo to faculty and staff two days after the election.

Stroup and others in higher education say Missouri's public colleges and universities will have to operate with limited means as it's unlikely for the near future that lawmakers will put before voters any statewide education tax measure.

Budget cuts and withholdings reduced state appropriations to Southeast this year by more than $2.8 million.

University officials had said that Proposition B could have brought the school an added $9 million annually in funding, including money for student scholarships.

Even before the defeat of Proposition B, Southeast had raised student fees and cut operating budgets to make ends meet.

With its defeat, university officials say the institution will have to look at the possibility of future fee hikes.

This year, Southeast students will pay $336 a year more in tuition than they paid last year. In contrast, the entire tuition at Southeast 12 years ago was $330 a year.

Student fees for the last academic year totaled $1,490. This year's total is $1,826, which includes a tuition hike for the upcoming spring semester.

Students at Southeast are paying almost one-third the cost of operating the institution, compared to less than one-sixth the cost a decade ago, university officials have pointed out.

Proposition B overshadowed much of the university's academic accomplishments and its move to the playing fields in Division I athletics in 1991.

It overshadowed the death of Ed Spicer, who served as associate to the president and was the top black administrator on campus, and the year-end retirement of Robert W. Foster, who was a university administrator at Southeast for 24 years.

It also overshadowed the university's $25 million capital campaign, continued planning for a new business school, and an appearance on campus in May by astronaut Linda Godwin, a native of Oak Ridge and a 1974 graduate of Southeast.

For higher education in general, the defeat of Proposition B was a bitter pill to swallow.

The defeat left educators bracing for continued budget woes in 1992 and university students wondering about the possibility of future fee hikes.