Gov. backs in-state tuition for illegal immigrants
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By Lindsey Parietti/Daily News staff
GHS
Posted Jun 25, 2008 @ 11:23 PM

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BOSTON — After backing off his endorsement of in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, Gov. Deval Patrick is again supporting the controversial measure as part of his Readiness Project, the education reform plan unveiled this week.

"It makes good sense for us economically, and for me it's just a matter of simple justice," Patrick said during a lunch with reporters yesterday. "We don't say to these kids they can't go to state colleges and universities; they can go. What we say to them is that they have to pay a different rate from the kid who sat across the aisle from them all through middle school and high school."

Patrick emphasized that to be eligible for the lower, in-state rates, students would have to pass the MCAS, graduate from a Massachusetts high school, qualify for college admission and be on a path toward citizenship.

"Governor Patrick's education plan should be called 'The Camouflage Project' because the governor is simply trying to slip through unpopular ideas in a fancy new package," state Republican Party Executive Director Rob Willington wrote in a statement yesterday. "Governor Patrick should figure out how to provide his promised property tax relief instead of spending taxpayer dollars on illegal immigrants."

A Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation report in 2006 said that giving tuition breaks would not cost the state money but prompt hundreds of illegal immigrants to enroll in public higher education, earning the state millions of dollars in tuition..

In January, Patrick said he was looking at ways to circumvent the Legislature to provide in-state tuition, but later decided not to take action.

The final readiness report, a product of a yearlong study by a team of more than 200 education experts, also recommends a statewide contract for teachers, financial incentives for schools with improved performance, free community college, longer school days, universal pre-kindergarten and early intervention for at-risk students.

Among the recommendations is a pay increase to bring state college professor salaries in line with those in other states.

The professors, whose contracts expire June 30, have picketed the governor's events to call attention to stalled contract negotiations and the state's failure to make a financial offer.

"It's frustrating that an offer hasn't been made at the table yet, so it's very difficult to know what to make out of this proposal," said Robert Donohue, a Framingham State psychology professor and president of the FSC chapter of the Massachusetts State College Association.

Massachusetts public college professors make about 10 percent less than their counterparts in other states, according to an independent study commissioned by the Department of Higher Education and conducted by Sibson Consulting. That gap is even wider in areas such as foreign language, psychology, and business and marketing.

"I don't think that the faculty expect that we'll be able to close that gap in one contract or one fiscal year, so obviously that's a real-time issue that we'll continue to work on," Patrick said yesterday.

Although he has an idea of how much the readiness reforms may cost, Patrick said he would not reveal the price tag until a separate finance commission reports how the commonwealth should pay for the 10-year plan in November.

Asked whether he will refile his casino bill, which the Legislature easily defeated this session, as a way to pay for the expensive reforms, Patrick said a property tax increase is the only funding option not on the table.

After the finance report is released, the administration plans to file several bills to begin implementing the changes.

"You might think that it would be ideal to implement all of the ... things immediately because it's systemic, it's an overhaul, but that would overload the system even if we could afford the luxury of doing that, which obviously we can't," said Education Secretary Paul Reville. "So we're going to take it in chunks and it's going to be delivered over a 10- or 12-year period."

In response to former Gov. Mitt Romney's comments Tuesday that Patrick should have devised a payment plan before the reforms, Patrick said, "That's an approach; this is a different one.

"It's built on collaboration, it is a transformative vision, it is built on long-term governance, and it's ambitious," Patrick said.

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