As Boston colleges face cuts, Gov. Healey gives taxpayer-funded handouts

(The Center Square) - Gov. Maura Healey, D-Massachusetts, launched a new initiative that would continue university research, funded by taxpayers, despite federal funding cuts.

Healey is proposing new legislation for the Discovery, Research and Innovation for a Vibrant Economy (DRIVE) Initiative, that would cost $400 million in state funding.

Healey’s legislation would give $200 million to public universities' research costs that have been impacted by the Trump administration's education funding cuts. The other $200 million will go towards a research funding pool at hospitals, universities and other research institutions. The governor's goal is to grow the Massachusetts economy.

With the federal government continuing to suspend education funding to colleges and universities, a report by the UMass Donahue Institute’s Economic & Public Policy Research Group analyzed the impact federal research and development funding has in Massachusetts.

The report found that annually, over $8 billion in federal research funding that the state of Massachusetts receives fuels $81,300 jobs.

“This bill is about creating jobs across industries from construction and food services to healthcare and education,” said Healey in a news release. “And in the face of uncertainty from the federal government, this is about protecting one of the things that makes Massachusetts so special – our global leadership in healthcare and helping families across the world.”

The DRIVE initiative will use the “Fair Share surtax revenue,” a tax on residents earning more than $1,000,000 annually in the state, as well as the Commonwealth Stabilization Fund, which taxes excess capital gains and gambling.

Massachusetts has many elite universities that the Trump administration has targeted for education funding cuts. Harvard University lost over $2 billion in federal grants over claims of antisemitism on campus, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) remains under federal investigation over alleged racial discrimination.

Many higher education officials are grateful to Healey for this new taxpayer-funded initiative.

“With the DRIVE Initiative, Governor Healey provides a welcome endorsement of the Commonwealth’s ‘eds-and meds’ ecosystem, which benefits all of us in Massachusetts,” the President of MIT Sally Kornbluth said. “At MIT, our work is crucial to America’s economic strength, global scientific leadership, and national security. Though no other source can replace federal funding for sheer scale, I applaud the Governor’s announcement of a new advisory commission to find ways to sustain the Commonwealth’s leadership in research, education and innovation for decades to come.”