UNIVERSITY OFFICIALS PRAISE TAX; MAGRATH: PLAN IS BUILT AROUND ACCOUNTABILITY

LISTENING TO A PRESIDENT: Kala Stroup, Southeast Missouri State University president, and John P. Lichtenegger, a member of the University of Missouri Board of Curators, listen to comments made by Peter Magrath, University of Missouri president, during his visit to Cape Girardeau Wednesday. (Photo by Mark Sterkel)

Two university presidents Wednesday praised the $385 million state education tax measure that's on the November ballot.

"It is a very good proposal," said C. Peter Magrath, president of the University of Missouri system. "It is built around accountability."

Magrath commented on the statewide ballot measure at a press conference at the Show Me Center Wednesday morning.

Kala Stroup, Southeast Missouri State University president, officially welcomed Magrath to the campus. She voiced her support for the tax measure in remarks to a Southeast Missourian reporter following the press conference.

Stroup said the education tax measure "is not a compromise." She said the ballot measure offers the "best combination" of education reforms and funding. "What ended up in the proposal is the best thinking of everybody."

About 30 people, including University of Missouri Extension Service personnel, met with Magrath at an informal coffee at the Show Me Center immediately prior to the press conference.

Magrath's visit to the Southeast campus came on the second day of his five-day, statewide tour. Magrath said he annually makes the tour to get out and meet with Missouri residents across the state.

A key education leader in the state, Magrath has been an outspoken supporter of the education tax.

He said the ballot measure gives Missourians an opportunity to "say yes" to educational reforms.

The Missouri League of Women Voters recently announced it would lobby against the tax measure. The group contends the tax is inadequate and regressive.

League officials have also questioned allocating so much of the tax money to specific reforms.

Magrath said he hopes the league will change its mind. "I believe that the league has to be somewhat misinformed about what's in the package."

He said the tax would provide badly needed additional revenue for both the state's colleges and universities, and also elementary and secondary schools.

"The alternative is that we simply stand still and I don't think we want to stand still," said Magrath. "I think we want to move forward."

Magrath said the reforms are not in name only. "I think the reforms are sensible."

He said that the measure, among other things, will require state colleges and universities to re-examine and sharply define their missions to see that funding is "not squandered in needless duplication."

The University of Missouri has engineering programs at three of its four campuses and is in the process of expanding it to the St. Louis campus. But Magrath contended it's important to provide engineering programs at more than one site.

"I think that is cost efficient and it meets employer demands and needs," he said. "Engineering is a hot ticket item."

The University of Missouri's four campuses has a total enrollment of about 50,000. The University of Missouri system educates close to half of the students enrolled in public colleges and universities in the state, he said.

The $385 million tax measure would provide an additional $190 million for higher education and an equal amount for elementary and secondary schools.

Magrath said the money would be linked to various educational reforms. But the tax money would only be specifically allocated for education for 10 years. After that, the tax money could go into the general revenue pot.

But Magrath said it would be unlikely that lawmakers would take the money away from education at that time.

"One reason it is dedicated (for 10 years) is to provide assurances that it (the money) will go for education," he said.

Magrath said he sees no problem with going to the voters with a tax measure that will fund not only higher education, but elementary and secondary as well.

"There is finally only education at all levels. It's all on the theme of education. I don't see that as a negative," he said. "I see that as a positive."