[protomyth]

"Education funding is being slashed left and right" - uhm no - most states aren't getting the increases they want. The University of Minnesota loves to use this tactic in press releases that their funding was cut, when actually, their increase in funding was cut. I hate politics for the acceptance of lies as standard practice.

[skimbrel]

The University of California and California State University are facing a one billion (yes, that's billion with a b) dollar cut from their EXISTING level of state funding. That is not a lie. That is education funding being slashed.

http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/pdf/Revised/BudgetSummary/HigherEd...

[bmj]

Pennsylvania's state budget is currently proposing a $1 billion cut to the education budget.

http://www.paschoolfunding.org/2011/05/2011-2012-budget-upda...

And this isn't about not getting increases--program funding is getting rolled back, and some program funding is getting cut entirely.

[run4yourlives]

To be fair, if enrollment is increasing and funding is flat, the effect is a decrease in funding. From what I can gather, most areas have a per-student funding model so this doesn't mean your statement is incorrect, but it's a little more complicated than being the black to the university's white.

[protomyth]

I did say most. The number of students is not increasing at a rate that would mess put the per student in most parts of the US.

http://nces.ed.gov has a lot of the actual numbers as opposed to partisan websites on either side.

PS: I am still trying to find a good source for # of non-teaching staff to teaching staff ratios. I get the feeling it has changed heavily in the last 30 years.