Student Government President Colorado Robertson met with Commissioner of Higher Education Sally Clausen on Tuesday to discuss the unfinished performance-based funding formula, tuition increases and the looming budget cuts.At a news conference Friday, Gov. Bobby Jindal proposed his executive budget and said he wants the $219 million cut to higher education’s state funding to be distributed based on performance, which could lessen the $45 million blow set to hit LSU’s main campus in Baton Rouge. He said he wants to work with legislators to implement a performance-based funding formula that has been in the works for nearly two years.Right now, the funding formula is based mainly on enrollment. The performance-based formula will also include factors like an institution’s ability to produce graduates in high-demand professional fields and research, Jindal said at the conference. But the performance-based formula is being designed for increases in state funding, not cuts. The Board of Regents, along with Clausen, now has to construct a performance-based formula for distributing reductions in state funding — a complicated task. “We don’t think that it should be something done behind closed doors,” Robertson said. “We think that we should be involved, and we thank the [Board of Regents] for letting us come down today to be involved, but they still don’t have enough information really to even start conveying what their plans are.”Robertson said he’s pleased with Jindal’s plans to distribute the cuts based on performance but wants to see the overall reduction in higher education state funding reduced. “We applaud Gov. Jindal for trying to make some decisions and move toward a performance-based system,” Robertson said. “Now he needs to support that and even additional dollars in higher education. Reducing the overall cut would help.”  Robertson said he’s speaking with Clausen and other state leaders to make sure students know how much their tuition and fees will increase because of the budget cuts before fee bills for the summer and fall 2009 semesters appear on their PAWS accounts. Robertson will meet with LSU System President John Lombardi — along with other System Student Government presidents — on Friday to discuss the budget cuts. “I think every institution plays a role in higher education in the state,” Robertson said. “But people need to recognize that LSU is the flagship university and it needs to be funded as such.” ——Contact Kyle Bove at [email protected]