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Committee declines to recommend two-year funding formula changes, inquires about funding disparities Wednesday, Sep 20, 2006 By Betsy Turner Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Legislators declined to endorse recommended changes to the two-year college funding formula Tuesday and questioned the formula's efficiency during a joint higher education subcommittee meeting at the Capitol. The Department of Higher Education Coordinating Board previously recommended four changes to the funding formula which would, among other things, allow smaller schools to spend more of their funding on institutional support rather than a uniform amount. The changes were part of an overall package of recommendations on operating needs and capitol needs for the 2007-2009 biennium. The subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council looked at the board's operating needs and recommendations, which would increase funding by about $236 million through 2009, and decided to use the current formula and study the proposed changes. Sen. David Bisbee, R-Rogers, said the funding recommendations and formula changes should be separate, while also arguing that the proposed new formula needed to be reviewed to determine if it would unfairly increase funding for smaller schools. "If we are already rewarding inefficiency because we fund everyone their base, now we are saying we are going to change the formula and give you more money to be inefficient because you are small," Bisbee said. Bisbee and Sen. Jim Argue, D-Little Rock, both questioned the two-year college formula's use of a base funding amount. Argue said many two-year colleges are experiencing declining enrollment but their base funding remains the same. He said this creates inefficiencies between colleges with declining growth and those with an increase in students. "It continues to yield vast disparities in per-student spending between the institutions," Argue said. "The big culprit is, even if an institution is losing students, they are guaranteed to never lose money." Argue said certain two-year colleges, such as Pulaski Technical College, are receiving about half percent of their total funding needs while others garner a much larger amount, up to 100 percent. State Higher Education Director Linda Beene said the two-year funding formula was developed and agreed upon by the department and college presidents. She said the department was required by law to come up with the two-year funding formula in consensus with the institution's presidents or chancellors. Argue said the law said it must be developed in consensus with the leaders, not as a consensus of all the university heads. Argue said the four-year university funding formula, which would provide a minimum of 75 percent of each institution's needs, was a more equitable way to distribute funds. |
