Dave Gets His Wish, on a Small Scale

Dave Stokes has blogged recently about the need to cut the size of the public sector workforce. I hope he’ll be happy to see this post by Kavita Kumar at The Grade. The news is that the University of Missouri Press is laying off seven of its 18 employees, with the goal of eventually getting by without the $450,000 that the state bestows on it each year. This is the Press’ official explanation for the decision:

“Out [sic] goal is to be fiscally independent, and we are developing a plan that will reduce our dependence on state funding while at the same time making our operations more efficient to better serve our authors and customers,” said Dwight Browne, interim director of the press, in a statement.

It looks like a smart move to me. I can’t imagine what would justify spending tax dollars on an academic press. The Press’ desire to streamline operations is laudable, a case of a state-funded organization acting like a private-sector company and taking economic realities into account. Little cuts like this one can add up and make a difference in shrinking the public sector.

Of course, this is also a very tough time to be without a job, and I wish the laid-off employees success in their search for work.