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2018
THE MUR R AY STATE
NEWS
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PAGE 3 April 19, 2018 | Vol. 92, No. 26
Bevin vs. Beshear
Graphic courtesy of Savanna Hatfield
Elizabeth Erwin Contributing writer eerwin1@murraystate.edu As the Kentucky pension crisis escalates, Gov. Matt Bevin and Attorney General Andy Beshear find themselves in the middle of legal warfare. Less than a week after Beshear filed a lawsuit against the passing of the controversial pension reform bill, SB 151, Bevin filed a motion to disqualify the lawsuit. The first hearing for Beshear’s lawsuit, which Bevin claims should be disqualified over conflicts of interest, will be Thursday, April 19 at 10 a.m. “By placing politics above the law, the ‘chief law officer’ of the Commonwealth has called into question every act of the 2018
General Assembly,” Stephen Pitt, general counsel for Bevin, said in a statement on Wednesday night. Beshear filed the lawsuit against SB 151 because he believed the bill violated the inviolable contract. The inviolable contract guarantees state workers the benefits they were promised when hired. “What the inviolable contract is, was a promise made decades ago by the General Assembly,” Beshear said. “They said that if you spend your life teaching our children, protecting our families as a police officer or firefighter, serving neglected children as a social worker, that’s why we wouldn’t pay you nearly what you’re worth, we would guarantee you a solid retirement.”
The pension battle heightened on April 13 after the Kentucky House and Senate voted to override Bevin’s veto of the budget bill, HB 200. While HB 200 provides full funding for the pension system, SB 151 includes the framework for pension reform that would affect pensions in coming years. The controversy surrounding SB 151 involves the way in which the bill was passed through the legislature. In his formal complaint against the bill, Beshear said SB 151 was originally introduced as an 11-page bill relating to sewer services but was amended to become a 291-page overhaul of Kentucky’s public pension systems. “House Bill 200 does not re-
sult in a balanced budget,” Bevin said in his veto. “My administration is committed to getting Kentucky’s financial house in order. This budget fails in that regard, and therefore, I am vetoing it.” Educators applauded the legislature for overriding Bevin’s veto on Friday during statewide rallies. “Much of the debate on these bills today is centered around the way in which these bills were passed,” Kentucky Education Association President Stephanie Winkler said. “As it stands now, the legislature has a serious internal process problem, and as teachers and other members of the public proved today, we aren’t going to stand for it anymore.”
In a move that caused additional tension with educators, Bevin filed an executive order on Monday to appoint seven new members to the Kentucky Board of Education. The new appointees replaced the members who were appointed by former Gov. Steve Beshear. As it stands now, all eleven voting members on the board have been appointed by Bevin. The new members were sworn in on Tuesday, April 17 during a special meeting that lasted more than four hours and resulted in the resignation of Education Commissioner Stephen Pruitt. Pruitt resigned after serving two and a half years of a four year term.
“If Gov. Bevin and the Republican majority were sincere about strengthening education for all of Kentucky students, they wouldn’t starve our local school districts and stack the Board of Education with pro-charter school appointees,” Brad Bowman, spokesman for the Kentucky Democratic Party said to LEX18 in Lexington, Kentucky. “Today, they have continued their war on public education. We can’t fill the achievement gap by widening the state’s funding gaps for our schools. Education Commissioner Dr. Stephen Pruitt’s resignation is just another step by this administration and the Republican majority to steal public money and funnel it into the hands of a for-profit industry.”
Graduate enrollment down, Murray State making changes BUDGET James Turner Staff Writer
jturner34@murraystate.edu
Despite a five-year trend of decreases in graduate enrollment, Murray State’s administration is optimistic about the 2018-19 academic year. Murray State’s graduate student enrollment numbers dropped by 13.7 percent over the last year with 200 fewer graduate students. In 2016-17, there were 1,450 graduate students, but this academic year, graduate enrollment is at 1,250. Robert Pervine, associate provost for graduate education and research, said they have already seen an 8 percent increase in applications for the 2018-19 year. Pervine said the decline has been due to a few main factors: decreasing funding from international governments for study abroad trips, an improving economy and the cost of graduate school tuition. “When the economy is better, which is right now, people tend to look more to the job market rather than the graduate school,” Pervine said. Because most graduate students enroll in late spring through the summer, Murray State won’t have a clear determination for next year for several months. Pervine said there are several actions are being taken and considered to deal with the low graduate enrollment. New academic programs will be introduced, such as a master’s degree in occupational therapy for the summer. Another is a set of certificate programs for high school teachers across Kentucky. Pervine said they are going to
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introduce a set of post-secondary education certificates, allowing teachers to teach dual credit courses in high school. “That’s something we’re seeing a big demand for now,” Pervine said. Pervine said conceptually, any high school teacher in Kentucky could take advantage of the program but will likely draw mainly from high school teachers in the 18 county service region. Kentucky is making a big push for more high school students to have college credit before they enter a post-secondary institution, but before that can happen, Pervine said there must be high school teachers qualified to teach college courses. More courses will be offered online, and class time frames will be shortened to eight or even four weeks. “Most of the teacher leader programs in education are available now, or soon will be available fully online,” Pervine said. “So, it’s a pretty big effort on our part to make it as easy as possible for students to get access to our courses.” He said they’re even looking into combining a bachelor’s and master’s degree into a five-year period. Accelerated programs, or jump programs, allow graduates to take courses toward their master’s degree in their final undergraduate year, which would give them a head start should they return. “It’s all about convenience,” Pervine said. “Making it easier for adults and working students to access our course work.” The admissions process
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GRADUATE ENROLLMENT DECLINE
BEVIN VETOED BUDGET BILL
2017
1,450
1,250
2018
Graphic courtesy of Savanna Hatfield
could also change in the future. He discussed possible admission ideas with a recruiter from Missouri State. This detail, which he said was brought up at the March Board of Regents meeting, caused a little confusion that Murray State uses Missouri State’s model, which isn’t true. “I think that there’s a recognition on our part that we need to streamline the admissions process to graduate school,” Pervine said. He also said the decision between when an application arrives and when the University replies needs to be made as quickly as possible. Pervine said as another potential countermeasure to the drop in international student
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UPDATE
enrollment, they are looking at possible adjustments to international tuition rates, but nothing has been finalized yet. There has also been a big push on recruitment efforts this year. Matthew Jones, coordinator for graduate recruitment and retention, came onboard Oct. 9 of last year and has been attending different fairs and universities to recruit new students. Jones said that in the 201617 academic year, the office of recruitment staff had been to 18 or 19 events. “At the end of this year, we’ll have gone to 41,” Jones said. “And by we, I mean me.” Jones has traveled to Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri, Ten-
nessee and Oklahoma. He said there’s potential to go even farther in the future if the interest is there. “I’m willing to go anywhere I need to to get students in the University,” he said. Jones said he gets a lot of questions concerning online, in-person and hybrid courses, but the biggest question he receives is about tuition rates and whether graduate assistantships are offered. Jones offered some advice to students. “Explore your options,” Jones said. “Talk to faculty within a program you might have interest in. Some students think master’s degrees are another four years, but often they’re much shorter.”
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HOUSE AND SENATE OVERRODE VETO BUDGET AND REVENUE BILLS BECAME LAW
CORRECTION On April 12, The News reported on proposed budgetary changes for fiscal year 2018-19. The information presented in the tuition graphic incorrectly depicted tuition rate increases. See the updated graph at thenews.org for a look at how tuition will likely change. The News regrets any misinformation.
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