The Board of Regents is considering changing its funding formula, according to a report issued to legislators Wednesday afternoon.
The Regents oversee the state’s higher education system. Its funding formula determines how much funding individual schools receive.
The proposal presents four major changes to the existing formula.
First, different standards would be applied to two-year institutions like Baton Rouge Community College than to four-year institutions like LSU. Two-year administrators have complained their goals are different from four-year institutions and therefore merit different benchmarks.
Second, funding would be tied to performance standards that apply to the LA GRAD Act, a bill passed last year that allows institutions to raise tuition independently by up to 10 percent, given certain performance markers.
Administrators at technical colleges and smaller universities have complained that graduation rates, upon which LA GRAD focuses, unfairly benefit larger institutions.
Third, universities would count costs based on figures calculated at the end of courses. Currently, costs are calculated after the 14th day of class. The report says end-of-class measures are more effective.
This proposal will not apply to technical colleges.
Finally, a maximum would be established that would limit the amount a single institution can be cut in one fiscal year.
The report says that if approved, the new system should exist for at least three to five years so higher ed administrators can have some stability on which to base future budgets.
The Regents voted last year to distribute funding based more on performance, the report says. Twenty-five percent of higher education is distributed based on performance criteria, while 75 percent is distributed based on costs.
During last year’s legislative session, Sen. Lydia Jackson, D-Shreveport, passed Senate Bill 746, which requires the Regents to report their funding formula to several legislative committees by March 15.
This year, that deadline was Tuesday, when the Regents released a proposal to consolidate New Orleans universities in an emotionally charged, several-hour-long meeting. The funding formula plan was not released until Wednesday.
The new proposal will go before the Regents for approval at its meeting next week.
 
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Contact Matthew Albright at [email protected]