In the final days of the legislative session both the Senate and the Assembly passed enhanced Maintenance of Effort (MOE) legislation for CUNY and SUNY. The bill, sponsored by Assemblymember Deborah Glick and Senator Kenneth LaValle, would transform the fiscal condition of New York’s public university systems, gradually increasing investment in the quality of public higher education in New York. The bill must be signed by Governor Cuomo to become law.
The current stripped-down version of the MOE, renewed this year in the State budget, ensures that the downward spiral of public funding for the state’s public universities will continue. It provides essentially flat funding, requiring that State allocation for the public universities be no less than it was in the prior year. But CUNY and SUNY need increased funding every year to cover inflation of rent, energy, collective bargaining and other mandatory operating costs.
With the enhanced MOE in place, each year new funds would be added to CUNY’s budget to cover inflationary increases to operating costs such as rent, energy and collective bargaining. Budget stability would be restored and the current generation of New Yorkers would have access to the life-changing experience of a top-quality college education.
In her testimony before the CUNY Board of Trustees Monday, June 19, President Bowen pressed the CUNY board to do everything in their power to help enact the enhanced Maintenance of Effort (MOE) legislation for CUNY. The Board is controlled by appointees of Governor Cuomo, who has vetoed MOE legislation in the past.
