By SAMANTHA PAWLAK
Legislative Gazette Staff Writer
Mon, Mar 3, 2008

The main focus of this year’s SUNY Day was the continued push for a $4 billion public higher education endowment.

SUNY representatives and administrators convened last Tuesday in the Hart Lounge of the Egg for the annual lobbying event. SUNY Day is organized to bring attention to the university system’s 2008-2009 budget priorities and to celebrate the year’s accomplishments.

Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Gov. Eliot Spitzer addressed the crowd were among those who addressed the conference.

Earlier this year, Spitzer announced plans for a $4 billion public higher education endowment. The fund is initially expected to yield more than $220 million each year from investments. Within 10 years, the endowment is expected to grow to $6.3 billion and generate more than $330 million a year.

The endowment would be funded in part by privatizing the New York state Lottery. The governor is proposing privatizing all or part of the state Lottery to fund new initiatives in the SUNY system, including hiring new faculty over the next five years. “Monetizing an asset turns a tangible good into a source of money,” said Jeff Gordon, a spokesman for the state budget office. “This would be a stable funding stream that the Lottery brings in. An upfront payment will be received in return for private investing to receive Lottery proceeds for a fixed time period … take the upfront payment and put it in a trust fund, and use the proceeds from that to fund higher education,” Gordon explained.

According to a SUNY press release, “the endowment would work by being a dedicated pool of funds, placed in a locked box, that would generate yearly returns to be set aside exclusively for New York state’s public university systems.”

This endowment would provide a permanent and sustained funding source that would supplement funding from the state, tuition and other sources, said Spitzer, and would also help put SUNY on par with the nation’s finest public university systems. An endowment would allow SUNY to elevate its academic and research programs, while remaining affordable and assessable, Spitzer said.

The governor provided statistics to emphasize the need for investing in SUNY. “In 1998 the United States, measured by the number of 25- to 34- year-olds who had a bachelor degree or higher… we ranked first in the world,” said Spitzer. “But by using the same measurement in 2004 we had slipped to fifth in the world. Staying on this current trend line, if we don’t alter the trend line by 2018, we will rank 19th in the world.”

The governor also pointed out that he plans to find funding for 2,000 new additional full time faculty in coming budgets ? 250 of which will be referred to as “super stars.”

"We will hire for the SUNY system over the next five years 2,000 additional faculty members so the ratio between faculty and students will be in line to where we want it to be," said Spitzer. "We want 250 to be 'super stars '… think of it like building a franchise... these 'super stars' will draw other faculty members, grad students, and draw research dollars... [super stars will help] to form the intellectual environment we need," Spitzer said.

However, this is part of a long-term plan and full time faculty is needed now according to Denyce Duncan Lacy, spokeswoman for SUNY faculty's union, United University Professions.

"The funding for 2,000 new faculty is spread over a five year period and is being paid for through the endowment. We want to make up for the 15 years of under funding and restore the student to professor ratio. The universities need not only a long-term plan, but a short-term one as well. We need to make up for lack of full-time faculty sooner than later,' said Lacy.

The governor said his proposals will ensure that K-12 funding is protected and will continue to grow, the New York Lottery will still be owned and regulated by the state and the New York Lottery workforce is protected.

"We have a K-12 system in New York state that is woefully inadequate ... because of resources that haven't been dedicated to it... no matter how you looked at it, we were failing," said Spitzer.

Spitzer also addressed the growing concern about graduates leaving the state in order to find jobs elsewhere.

"We live in a world where capital is mobile, where our graduate students are going to move where the jobs are available," Spitzer said. "I ask businesses where would you choose to locate, if the answer isn't New York, then we are failing. When I ask CEOs what drives your decision making... the answer I get is we go to where there is the best work force and you can find those by looking at the best universities."

In order to help counteract New York state's brain drain, Spitzer wants to "transform our community colleges, they are the gateway to our four year colleges and are needed for foundation for our workforce training," said Spitzer.

Bruno concurs with the governor on making higher education a top priority, but expressed a lack of belief in the governor's commitment to higher education.

"The governor talked about how higher education needs to be a permanent priority and I agree. We want the governor and the speaker to step up during this budget process," said Bruno.

Silver said that with the right investment, New York's higher education can be the best in the nation. "With our colleagues in the Senate ...we will work to make our SUNY system better and better with each passing year," said Silver. "As the colleges and universities grow stronger we will be making sure that the opportunity to earn a college education remains within the reach or every New Yorker. I thank you for recognizing that our SUNY and CUNY schools, if we invest in them, can become the new engines for economic growth and job creation in this 21st century," said Silver.