‘Utterly nonsensical’: Mass. teachers union slams UMass budget that cuts jobs as schools navigate COVID impact
"We face difficult decisions today and we will continue to face them in the weeks and months ahead," UMass President Marty Meehan said.
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The Massachusetts Teachers Association is sounding off after the University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees Monday approved a $3.3 billion operating budget, setting the stage for cutting approximately 6 percent of the system’s full-time equivalent workforce.
“This misguided plan will be a blow to our students, our communities and the families of hardworking public employees, as well as the employees themselves,” MTA President Merrie Najimy said in a statement. “The members of the MTA will fight these cuts and demand from the federal and state governments the funding that our public schools and colleges need.”
The allocations represent a $171 million decrease for the coming 2020-2021 school year over the previous year, as the UMass system works to fill a $263 million budget gap brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, according to the State House News Service.
But the plan also reflects the financial hardships now plaguing students and their families, school officials say. The trustees voted to freeze tuition rates for in-state undergraduate and graduate students.
Tuition for the coming year will average $14,722 for the almost 48,000 in-state undergrad students at the Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, and Lowell campuses before financial aid kicks in, according to UMass. Graduate students will see tuition costs range from $14,590 to $18,433.
Tuition for UMass Medical School was set by the trustees in April.
Forgoing a tuition raise means UMass will miss out on $18.6 million in revenue — an amount offset partially by cutting administrative costs.
“Even as UMass, like higher education institutions across the country, faces significant budget cuts due to pandemic-related financial challenges, we need to do all that we can to keep a high quality UMass education within financial reach of Massachusetts students,” Board of Trustees Chairman Rob Manning said in a statement.
UMass officials pointed to a procurement consolidation effort started earlier this year that’s projected to save between $15 and $20 million by the end of the current fiscal year, as well as an “efficiency and effectiveness” program launched in 2013 that has saved $124 million, as areas that can offset losses.
“Holding the line on tuition is simply the right thing to do this year as so many students and families are facing stress and uncertainty created by an unprecedented national health emergency and economic downturn,” UMass President Marty Meehan said in a statement. “That means controlling student charges and supporting financial aid so our students are able to pursue their dream of earning a UMass degree.’’
Still, some are bracing for employee layoffs.
UMass Amherst Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy has asked departments to find $30 million in cuts in the coming weeks to help balance the budget.
Layoffs are possible if the effort is unsuccessful, though faculty may be able to keep their jobs if students attend classes in typical numbers, he said Monday.
The Amherst campus was looking at a $104 million deficit for this fiscal year. Subbaswamy said officials were able to save about half of that amount with moves that did not involve personnel changes, but another $30 million needs to be cut.
Meehan said UMass faces an “unprecedented financial challenge,” according to the News Service.
“We face difficult decisions today and we will continue to face them in the weeks and months ahead,” he said. “We are coming at this problem from every possible direction.”
According to the MTA, the budget passed by the trustees Monday would eliminate roughly 2,000 positions and furlough over 3,000 workers.
The UMass system has, to date, let go of 134 of its almost 24,000 employees and will lay off another 397, according to the News Service. Officials have cut approximately 1,125 student and temporary positions, and 790 open, full-time equivalent jobs will go unfilled.
Workforce spending was cut by $163 million and non-personnel costs were lowered by $92 million in the budget, the News Service reports.
“It is utterly nonsensical and indeed destructive to cut jobs and programs on our UMass campuses,” MTA Vice President Max Page said. “The UMass Board of Trustees took steps today that will weaken UMass and shut down opportunities that people desperately need if our Commonwealth is to succeed and help working families. Rather than fighting alongside the MTA and its 18,000 higher education members, the UMass president and the Board of Trustees have chosen to rush into slashing campus budgets — instead of doing their job of defending our university.”
In its argument for the need to retain jobs, the MTA pointed to a report it published last month by UMass Amherst economics and public policy professor Michael Ash and Shouvik Chakraborty, of UMass Amherst’s Political Economy Research Institute.
The analysis focuses on how more state spending on public, higher education in Massachusetts can help provide short-term economic stimulus amid the COVID-19 pandemic and “lay the foundation for decades of improved social and economic performance.”
“Increased spending on public higher education in Massachusetts will create an immediate increase in employment in the state. Public higher education has strong employment-generating effects relative to most other sectors,” one of the report’s conclusions reads. “The strong employment-creation benefits are net effects, inclusive of the taxation required to fund the investment with a state balanced-budget constraint. If the funding for the stimulus comes from, for example, federal support in light of the COVID-19 crisis, then the employment effects will be all the stronger.”
Meanwhile, Anneta Argyres, who helms the Labor Extension Program at UMass Boston and is the president of the Professional Staff Union for UMass’ Boston and Amherst campuses, told the trustees that more teachers and support staffers are actually needed for online learning, according to the News Service.
She said the 2,000 members of the union are “very concerned” about the jobs that will be cut.
“This is not the time to eliminate jobs in public higher education, but jobs are being eliminated across our campuses,” Argyres said. “The reason we’re being given is you are requiring balanced budgets without the use of reserves. Why? What are you trying to protect? Our system has reserves that should be used to stabilize our campuses during crises, and we all know we’re in the midst of two crises right now: COVID and the economic collapse.”
“This is the time to use those funds to ensure that our institutions weather that storm,” Argyres added.
A spokesperson for Meehan told the News Service, when asked about whether reserve cash could be used, “We believe this will be a multi-year challenge we’re facing, and we want to be as flexible as possible.”
The spokesperson did not say how much the UMass system has in its reserves.
The outlet also reported UMass has put approximately $243 million in planned long-term capital projects on hold to cut back on spending.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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