Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) pledged yesterday to boost spending on Maryland's public university system by 5.7 percent in the coming year, a move that could hold down tuition increases and undercut Democratic efforts next week to override his veto of a higher education funding bill.
Ehrlich's proposal would provide $43 million more in operating funds to the university system, which has taken repeated budget hits since he took office, resulting in major tuition increases and cost-cutting measures. University officials said the additional money would allow them to limit the fall tuition increase for in-state undergraduates to no more than 5.9 percent.
_____Issues: Education_____
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Chancellor William E. Kirwan of the University System of Maryland and Board of Regents Chairman Clifford M. Kendall said they were pleased with the governor's move and would ask the General Assembly to let stand Ehrlich's veto of legislation from last year. That bill would limit tuition increases and boost university funding. It would pay for the additional state aid with a temporary increase in the corporate tax rate.
"The governor said all along that the bill was unnecessary and that we did not need a new tax," Ehrlich's budget secretary, Chip DiPaula Jr., said yesterday.
Supporters of an override vowed to press forward, however. James C. Rosapepe, a regent appointed by then-Gov. Parris N. Glendening (D), said Ehrlich offered no guarantees about funding in future years, unlike the bill that lawmakers plan to consider Tuesday.
"It basically stops the bleeding, but it's not a recovery plan," Rosapepe said. "We can't effectively manage the university without the certainty of funding."
Kirwan said he is confident that Ehrlich's commitment is "the first year of a reinvestment in higher education."
Democratic legislative leaders said they were pleased with the amount pledged for next year but could not predict how the move would affect the override vote.
"Will this have an influence on some people? Sure," said House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel). He said it is clear that "the pressure of the veto override has pushed the governor to fund higher education."
During the 2004 session, the higher education bill passed with 80 votes in the House and 30 in the Senate. The votes of 85 delegates and 29 senators are needed to override Ehrlich's veto.
Sen. P.J. Hogan (D-Montgomery), vice chairman of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee, called Ehrlich's funding pledge "very welcome," but he said it leaves several questions unanswered, including what priorities might lose out in the governor's budget.
Aaron Kraus, student body president at the University of Maryland College Park, said the $43 million is more than he expected. Still, Kraus said, he is hoping for an override of Ehrlich's veto. "We'd much rather have a stable future than a one-shot deal," he said.
The vetoed bill would limit annual tuition increases to 5 percent and raise the corporate tax rate temporarily from 7 to 7.7 percent.
