Vet school funding approved by state

The Tufts School Veterinary Medicine gained gubernatorial financial support last month, allowing the school to breath easier about their financial worries for at least another year.

Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney's budget for fiscal year 2005 contains $3 million in funding for the Vet School.

After repeated requests Romney's press office did return repeated calls asking for comments on why the governor restored the school's funding after trying to eliminate them last year. Romney's decision was overturned by the Senate Ways and Means Committee last spring.

Associate Dean Administration and Finance Joseph McManus had no comment as to whether the school would be lobbying for additional state funds. "We are pleased that Governor Romney included Tufts Veterinary School in his fiscal year 2005 budget," he said in a statement.

In the statement, he praised Romney for recognizing "the necessity of state funding to operate the Commonwealth's only veterinary school and securing continued access to a veterinary medical education for Massachusetts citizens."

The Vet School's public funding has been declining for several years. After receiving $5.3 million in fiscal year 2002, the school received $3.6 million in FY2003 under former governor Jane Swift. $3 million has been allocated to both the FY2004 and FY2005 budgets.

Similar cuts have occurred in other states. The governor of Illinois has proposed eliminating a $2 million veterinary research grant at the University of Illinois. The University of California at Davis (UC Davis) has faced several straight years of budget cuts, including the loss last year of planned extension of a kidney replacement program.

UC Davis Communications Representative Lynn Narlesky said that while cuts are expected during times of state budget deficiencies, a school can never completely gauge their impact. "While we're never really prepared for a shrinking budget, school and university officials do a fair amount of planning to try to mitigate the impacts," she said.

UC Davis now receives only 23 percent of its budget from the state, compared to 50 percent fifteen years ago.

In response, the school has increased efforts to raise monies from private sources in addition to trimming services.

"We are fortunate that so many people care about animal health," Narlesky said, "and that our school faculty and staff have been able to step up to the challenges of tighter budgets."

The same trend is seen at the Tufts Vet School, which now receives only 16 percent of its budget from Massachusetts. The national average has government funding accounting for 26 to 36 percent of a vet school's budget.

The Vet School relies on private donations, including those from community and alumni supporters, to maintain dozens of programs at the school such as fulfilling the Large and Small Animal Hospitals' equipment wish-lists, training for the Pet Loss Support Hotline, and acquisitions at the Webster Family Library.

One of these sources is the Travis Fund, which offers $50 to $300 dollar subsidy for otherwise healthy dogs in need of treatment their owners cannot afford.

"There's already more demand for the program than we can fulfill," Office of Development Official Besti Sterns said.

"The Travis Fund is an 'expendable fund'; as money is raised, it is spent," Office of Development Official Shelley Rodman said. The Travis Fund has no endowment, leading the continual turnover in monies.

Declining state monies for the Vet School comes at a time when the school has been mired in controversy surrounding recent research. Six dogs were euthanized in January as part of a bone-density experiment, eliciting outcry from animal rights activists and some Grafton town residents and alumni.

While Rodman said there had not been a change in giving since the controversy occurred, second-year class co-President Alisha Weissman said the negative publicity could have adverse effects on donations. A decrease in donations would have dire consequences, she said.

"Hundreds of dogs might not be able to be saved," Weissman said. "They might have to be euthanized because they can't afford treatment."

Last year, Romney proposed cutting all state funding for the veterinary school. The Vet School launched an initiative to restore the monies, requesting students and supporters to petition state legislators.

Officials argued the school deserved state funding because of its care for the Massachusetts police dog and horse units.

Tufts is the only veterinary school in New England and one of just 28 in the country.

Eventually, $3 million was restored to the state's budget by the Senate Ways and Means Committee and signed into law by Romney in June 2003.

Massachusetts legislators reduced spending in the past two years to close multi-billion dollar budget deficits. Funding to thousands of social programs and local governments have been reduced or eliminated during the budget crisis.