BOSTON (State House News Service) — After winning a decades-long fight to impose a surtax on the state's highest earners designed to fund education and transportation, educators and supporters from across Massachusetts are making it clear that public higher education is on the top of their priority list for the newfound funds.
"This is the perfect moment to send a message to House and Senate leadership, to our next governor, that we need to make sure that as this money comes in out of the millionaire's tax that we're committing that to public higher education," Sen. Jamie Eldridge of Acton said at a Higher Ed for All coalition meeting Thursday at the State House.
State funding into higher education has decreased by about $2,500 per student between 2001 and 2020, according to the coalition. In the same time period, students have seen about $6,500 increases in tuition and fees to attend public colleges and universities.
The coalition's priorities include recruiting and retaining staff, largely through increased pay and job security, increasing student supports, offering affordable and accessible "debt-free" higher education, and investing in campus infrastructure.
Members will press lawmakers to deploy new revenue from a 4 percent surtax on personal household income above $1 million, which voters approved last month via ballot question.
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