Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) • Jan. 9
Following last year’s major boost in funding and move to increase K-12 public schools’ accountability, Gov. Spitzer says he’s making higher education the priority this year. In his State of the State address, he proposed a $4 billion higher education endowment—possibly paid for by a plan to lease the state lottery—to pay for 2,000 new, full-time faculty members, 250 new “eminent scholars,” and expansion of the community college system. He also called for an “Innovation Fund,” similar to the National Science Foundation, to finance academic research.
