TRENTON – A bill that would set up a commission to study how other states fund higher education – and in particular, link funding to performance – will be before the Senate Higher Education Committee on Thursday.
S2695, which has bipartisan sponsorship, would create a 10-member body that also would review N.J. college and university funding needs and develop a report that recommends a higher education funding formula.
Co-sponsor Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr. said that over the course of several decades the method of funding public higher-education institutions in New Jersey has gone off track.
“It used to be that the funding formula was driven by enrollment,’’ he said Tuesday. “Over the course of the last 30 years, mission replaced enrollment. Therefore, institutions didn’t face any penalties for a decrease in enrollment.’’
This bill would help lead the state restore “efficiency, accountability” in public funding of colleges, he said.
The concept is not new. The National Conference of State Legislatures reported that about a dozen states tie funding to performance, four more are moving in that direction, and approximately 20 others are considering it as well, according to Kean.
States such as Missouri, Tennessee and New Mexico have methods of linking funding to graduation rates, he said.
The commission that would be set up could help steer New Jersey toward that direction, restoring equitability and eventually helping to stem the out-migration of college students, Kean said.
The commission would consist of 10 members including the secretary of Higher Education; five members appointed by the governor including representatives of the state colleges and universities, the public research universities, the county colleges, the independent colleges and universities, and one public member; and one member each to be appointed by the Senate president, Assembly speaker, and the minority leaders in each chamber.
Also on the docket Thursday is S2945, a house-cleaning measure related to the legislation that enabled the massive higher-education reorganization.
It would increase from six to eight the number of members needed to constitute a quorum on the Rutgers Board of Governors.
When the state increased membership of that board to 15, it did not include a provision that also upped the number needed for a quorum, which is half plus one. It remained at six, and sponsor Sen. Joe Vitale said this should be a routine bill to address that situation.
