BE OUR GUEST

Anne Bradshaw is a Cape Girardeau resident. She served as a regent at Southeast Missouri State University from 1983 to 1990.

Nov. 5th will mark an important date in the history of Missouri. That's when voters across the state will be asked to cast their ballot for the future of our schools.

The issue to be decided is Proposition B a measure that can set a new course for education in Missouri. Proposition B is a $385 million bi-partisan education reform and tax proposal that would increase state funds in support of elementary, secondary and higher education.

As a former Regent at Southeast Missouri State University, I dealt firsthand for many years with the funding problems facing higher education in Missouri. The problems were severe during my tenure from 1983 to 1990, and have only gotten worse this past year.

Earlier this month, the current Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents responded to a $942,325 reduction in state appropriations by enacting a series of internal budget cuts and raising student fees effective next January. The Board raised the per credit hour fee by $5, bringing the additional cost for a Missouri resident taking 12 to 15 credit hours of course work at the undergraduate level to $60 per semester. To date, the total increase in required fees paid by the typical Southeast student during the 1991-1992 academic year is $336.

In addition, the Regents also raised the textbook rental fee at Southeast by $2 a course. The University plans to make up the balance of the $942,325 shortfall through internal budget cuts.

These are tough times at Southeast.

I regret seeing our students saddled with an increasingly higher financial burden. But Southeast's Regents already have cut budgets, imposed a hiring and position freeze, and decided that faculty and staff salary increases would be impossible for this year. There are no more avenues to turn to.

This year, the university has less than $90,000 to maintain its $100 million physical plant. Proposition B would guarantee that funds will be available over the next few years to address serious problems of deferred maintenance.

Southeast also continues to wrestle with the need to provide state-of-the-art computer and laboratory equipment for the instruction of students, but cannot fund the increasingly expensive high-technology equipment that will keep Southeast graduates competitive with students being educated in other states and countries. Proposition B would provide the millions of dollars our institution and the state need to invest in this equipment.

Southeast also is struggling with finding resources to provide competitive pay for faculty and staff Proposition B would provide the budgetary flexibility the University needs to prevent a serious drain of teaching talent. All of these problems are found not only at Southeast, but at all our state colleges and universities.

That's why Missouri voters should support Proposition B. Funding problems at our state universities are not new. But the issue is now critical. Either more state revenue must be forthcoming or we doom generations of Missouri students to substandard or very expensive public higher education.

We in Cape Girardeau especially cannot afford to have our university dry up on the vine. It is, in addition to a great education institution, a vital part of our ongoing local economy.

Proposition B is, by no means, a perfect package. But at least it is a tax with use limited to upgrading Missouri. It also is the only relief in sight for Missouri schools from kindergarten through the doctoral level.

Please consider Proposition B and vote "yes" on Nov. 5.