[Vision2020] Neglect of Higher Ed

[nickgier at adelphia.net]

Report: Legislatures are starving higher ed; Bipartisan conference predicts that continued fiscal negligence could lead to a national crisis


By JOEL MILLS
of the Tribune 
MOSCOW -- A crisis in higher education has been precipitated by negligent state legislatures, according to a new national bipartisan report that also places responsibility for solutions with local lawmakers. 

The report from the National Conference of State Legislatures cautions that if states don't make wiser, strategic investments in their colleges and universities, an economic tailspin could put America behind other countries. 

Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow, who sits on the Senate's Education Committee, said Idaho is one of the guilty parties. "The Legislature has not funded higher ed the way it should, and we're going to have economic consequences for that down the road." 

His counterpart in the House Education Committee agreed. "We really lack access (to higher education) and we're losing a good investment in the development of human capital for the state workforce," said Rep. Tom Trail, R-Moscow. 

For years Schroeder and Trail have advocated spending more on higher education. And even though both are members of the majority party in the Idaho Statehouse, they are viewed as outsiders and their proposals often fall on deaf ears. 

While both agree the economic realities of ballooning corrections and entitlement budgets are painting higher education into a corner, they said education is a long-term cure to those social ills. 

John Goedde, R-Coeur d'Alene, chairs the Senate Education Committee. He said changes to the system should focus on accountability, not just money. 

"Before we put more dollars into postsecondary education, we need to make sure the dollars we've committed are being spent in an efficient manner," Goedde said. 

Those who receive state money need to do a better job letting the Legislature know how their students give back to the state, Goedde added. "What the institutions are going to have to do to prove their worth is to show what their products are doing. I don't think we're getting that out of postsecondary institutions right now. I don't think we've ever demanded it." 

The National Conference of State Legislatures commission was made up of six Republicans and six Democrats, and worked for 18 months on the report it released this week. It found the American system of higher education is no longer the best in the world, and skyrocketing tuition and fees are restricting access. 

For every 100 ninth-graders in high school, only 18 will finish college within six years, the report concluded. 

State legislatures hold the key to turning around such numbers, the report said. They should identify the strengths and weaknesses in their systems, determine public agendas, set clear goals and then hold institutions accountable for the funds they receive. 

"They have the power to demand that we do better, to demand that we think of higher education not as the balance wheel of budgets, but as an investment in our future," said Wisconsin Rep. Rob Kreibich, co-chair of the commission. 

One approach Trail will try again this year is providing more scholarships for Idaho students. Other scholarship proposals he floated failed last year, but he is working with the State Board of Education again this year to find money for more need-based scholarships for Idaho's poor. 

Trail said he envisions the scholarships eventually helping up to 6,000 needy Idahoans go to college each year. The awards would depend on students and parents first applying for federal grants and other scholarships. "Then the state would be there to help them the rest of the way," Trail said. 

Goedde said he will support the scholarship program as long as it includes the commitments from parents and students. 

Schroeder said part of the challenge facing higher education is a state board that doubles as the regents for all public colleges and universities. That puts political pressure on the institutions' presidents to not ask for too much each year, he said. 

"It's a system that puts a lid on the leaders from being too assertive or too aggressive. The legislators are not getting a true measure of what the needs are because of the temerity that's built into the system." 

Schroeder said he will introduce a constitutional amendment during the 2007 session that establishes independent, five-person boards of regents for each institution. 

Tuesday morning Trail looked at the snowy Moscow landscape out his window and spied a heron perched on his pond, peering through the thin ice. 

"Maybe he's looking for some of that elusive higher education funding." 

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Mills may be contacted at jmills at lmtribune.com or at (208) 883-0564.