Brown supports education

Cathy McMorris Rodgers is at it again: Blaming Lisa Brown for hiking college tuition.

I was in Idaho’s legislature at the time of the severe economic downturn. I sympathize with Lisa Brown, her colleagues, and legislators around the country. With drastically reduced revenue, they were trying to keep the lights on. They struggled to fund essential programs while doing as little harm as possible. Many tried to protect K-12 education so opportunities for young people were still in place. Higher education did not fare as well.

In Idaho, we appropriated millions less for colleges and universities in 2009 compared to the prior year. This was even after the budget was propped up by funds from the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – which McMorris Rodgers opposed. When state funding is reduced, colleges and universities must make a choice: cut programs or raise tuition. Most students to whom I spoke preferred raising tuition to cutting programs important to them.

The real tuition villain here is Cathy McMorris Rodgers – if she had succeeded in defeating the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, there would have been less money for colleges and universities and tuition would have gone up even more. The thoughtful vote’s for Lisa Brown.

Shirley Ringo

Moscow