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Congressman seeks funding equity for historically black colleges
By JEFFREY McMURRAY
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - An Alabama congressman sought to correct a funding discrepancy Monday that threatened to deny several historically black institutions the same level of agriculture payments as some of their predominantly white counterparts.
The House approved by a voice vote an amendment by Rep. Artur Davis, D-Ala, that would add $3.5 million to a measure covering next year's agriculture spending. The money would be used for community development and rural agricultural services at some 18 historically black colleges and universities.
President Bush had proposed a funding cut for those programs at the schools that Davis said was as much as five times larger than planned cuts for predominantly white land-grant institutions established under an earlier charter. Assuming it survives negotiations between the House and Senate, the amendment will even the financial playing field for the two types of schools.
Under the Morrill Act of 1862, states received land to establish colleges and universities designed to teach agriculture and the mechanical arts. Those are generally traditional, majority white institutions. A second Morrill Act in 1890 expanded the system to include historically black colleges, and it's those schools Davis says were being treated unfairly under the budget proposal.
"It certainly is a disparity that is very telling," Davis said of Bush's budget request. "For whatever reason, the administration did not take the concerns of 1890s as seriously as the constituencies behind the 1862s."
Under House rules, lawmakers can't add new spending projects to a bill on the floor without proposing a corresponding cut. Davis' amendment would cut $3.5 million out of the Department of Agriculture's computing account, and that drew opposition from Rep. Henry Bonilla, the chairman of the House Appropriations panel on agriculture.
"We have done the best we possibly could under the limitations we have this year," said Bonilla, R-Texas.
Bush has endorsed funding increases for historically black colleges in other measures before Congress, but the presidents of two institutions said those would not make up for the cuts in their agriculture and community development funds.
"We don't have the luxury to reallocate funds from other parts in order to sustain these programs," said John Gibson, president of Alabama A&M University. "That's why it's so important we maintain the funding coming from the Department of Agriculture."
Clinton Bristow, president of Alcorn State University in Mississippi, said his school would see a $200,000 cut - about 5 to 7 percent of the school's total federal allotment.
"We don't have extension workers, we don't have in-service workers for teachers, we don't have preventative health care professionals to put out there in the field without these dollars," Bristow said.
Besides those two schools, Davis' amendment would apply to: Tuskegee University in Alabama; University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff; Delaware State University; Florida A&M University; Fort Valley State University in Georgia; Kentucky State University; Southern University and A&M College in Louisiana; University of Maryland Eastern Shore; Lincoln University in Missouri; North Carolina A&T State University; Langston University in Oklahoma; South Carolina State University; Tennessee State University; Prairie View A&M University in Texas; Virginia State University and West Virginia State College.
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On the Net:
Rep. Davis: http://www.house.gov/arturdavis/
:tup: :nod:
By JEFFREY McMURRAY
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - An Alabama congressman sought to correct a funding discrepancy Monday that threatened to deny several historically black institutions the same level of agriculture payments as some of their predominantly white counterparts.
The House approved by a voice vote an amendment by Rep. Artur Davis, D-Ala, that would add $3.5 million to a measure covering next year's agriculture spending. The money would be used for community development and rural agricultural services at some 18 historically black colleges and universities.
President Bush had proposed a funding cut for those programs at the schools that Davis said was as much as five times larger than planned cuts for predominantly white land-grant institutions established under an earlier charter. Assuming it survives negotiations between the House and Senate, the amendment will even the financial playing field for the two types of schools.
Under the Morrill Act of 1862, states received land to establish colleges and universities designed to teach agriculture and the mechanical arts. Those are generally traditional, majority white institutions. A second Morrill Act in 1890 expanded the system to include historically black colleges, and it's those schools Davis says were being treated unfairly under the budget proposal.
"It certainly is a disparity that is very telling," Davis said of Bush's budget request. "For whatever reason, the administration did not take the concerns of 1890s as seriously as the constituencies behind the 1862s."
Under House rules, lawmakers can't add new spending projects to a bill on the floor without proposing a corresponding cut. Davis' amendment would cut $3.5 million out of the Department of Agriculture's computing account, and that drew opposition from Rep. Henry Bonilla, the chairman of the House Appropriations panel on agriculture.
"We have done the best we possibly could under the limitations we have this year," said Bonilla, R-Texas.
Bush has endorsed funding increases for historically black colleges in other measures before Congress, but the presidents of two institutions said those would not make up for the cuts in their agriculture and community development funds.
"We don't have the luxury to reallocate funds from other parts in order to sustain these programs," said John Gibson, president of Alabama A&M University. "That's why it's so important we maintain the funding coming from the Department of Agriculture."
Clinton Bristow, president of Alcorn State University in Mississippi, said his school would see a $200,000 cut - about 5 to 7 percent of the school's total federal allotment.
"We don't have extension workers, we don't have in-service workers for teachers, we don't have preventative health care professionals to put out there in the field without these dollars," Bristow said.
Besides those two schools, Davis' amendment would apply to: Tuskegee University in Alabama; University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff; Delaware State University; Florida A&M University; Fort Valley State University in Georgia; Kentucky State University; Southern University and A&M College in Louisiana; University of Maryland Eastern Shore; Lincoln University in Missouri; North Carolina A&T State University; Langston University in Oklahoma; South Carolina State University; Tennessee State University; Prairie View A&M University in Texas; Virginia State University and West Virginia State College.
___
On the Net:
Rep. Davis: http://www.house.gov/arturdavis/
:tup: :nod:
