State funding for Vet School still in question

In a late night session last week, the Massachusetts House of Representatives voted in favor of a House Ways and Means Committee recommendation to appropriate roughly $3 million towards the Tufts Veterinary School. This allotment is about $600,000 less than last year, and a $2.3 million cut from the funding the Vet School received from the State just two years ago.

However, the decision by the House contradicts Governor Mitt Romney's request to cut all funding from the Vet School for the year. After a Senate decision, Romney still has the power to veto the budget after a closed-door discussion period.

This is the second time Romney has attempted to eliminate the entirety of the Vet School's funding from his budget. The first attempt, which was for the fiscal year 2002, Tufts objected to on the grounds that the monies were for services already performed by the Vet School. Funding for that year was later reinstated after lobbying pressure from Tufts.

A significant portion of the state funding goes to veterinary care of the Massachusetts State Police dog and horse units. Romney's office explained that due to the state budget crunch, officials originally found it easier to pay the bill for police animals themselves, rather than pay Tufts.

This year's funding decision currently rests with the Senate Ways and Means Committee, which has yet to look at the issue. According to the Committee, the decision will be based on how much the State can afford to spend, but they have received many letters and calls of support for the Vet School.

The Senate should make a decision by the end of May.

Senate President Spokesperson Anne Defrain said that the Senate has been "very strong" on education issues so far, but that Senate President Robert Travaglini is not willing to comment on the issue yet. "The Senate is not going to commit to any one idea or the other until it has been fully debated."

The Vet School is not willing to speculate on the outcome, and will make no comment about any contingencies or alternate plans if state funding fails to arrive.

At the moment, the Vet School is also not aware if the funding will be for the academic year 2003 or 2004.

Massachusetts is facing one of its biggest funding crises of recent memory, being forced to cut funding to nearly every city and organization in the State. The current budget shortfall sits at over $2 billion. As the governor is opposed to raising revenue through increased taxes, the deficit must be made up through budget cuts.

Democratic Party Consultant and Tufts lecturer Michael Goldman said that the funding is just not there for the Vet School, when other programs such as public housing and city budgets are being chopped. "On a priority scale, the Tufts Veterinary School is a minor problem," Goldman said.

Although the $2 million already cut from the Vet School seems like a small amount in the context of the entire State budget, Goldman said that it does not matter. "Bottom line: there ain''t no money."

According to Goldman, the government has misled the public about what services the Vet School will be able to provide without funding, and now the public has been convinced that it should not be forced to pay for State programs. "There are hundreds of thousands of these $2 million programs that are important to the quality of life in Massachusetts," that will face funding cuts.

The total Vet School budget equals $44 million. Asked how important the State funding is for the Vet School, spokesperson Barbara Donato said that every dollar counts. "No vet school has ever survived, long-term, without state funding," Donato said.

The Vet School's state funding was originally $5.3 million, but that was trimmed down to $3.6 million last year in cuts under Governor Jane Swift's administration.

Before the cuts, the Vet School already received some of the lowest funding in the country. While the school receives 14 percent of its operating budget from the state, other vet schools around the country typically receive between 26 to 36 percent of their endowments from state governments. Massachusetts entered into a contract with Tufts nearly 25 years ago to give money for basic operating support.

Tufts Veterinary school is one of only 28 in the country and was established in 1979.