Dive Summary:
- The nonpartisan California Legislative Analyst's Office released a report Tuesday advising state lawmakers to do away with several parts of the higher education spending plan proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown's budget.
- Among issues listed in the report are the analysts' belief that increased spending should have more state oversight, that it should be tied to more specific performance benchmarks and that tuition freezes now could lead to steeper increases in the future.
- The report also specifically called for the Legislature to establish clear expectations for institutions in program completions, degrees earned, research activity and cost reductions instead of basing funding on enrollment or "vague performance expectations."
From the article:
In the Democratic governor's proposal, the state's three higher-education systems would receive 4 percent to 6 percent more state money in the next budget than they received for the current year. In exchange, however, Mr. Brown expects state institutions to "maintain current tuition and fee levels" over the next four years; to increase access to courses online, especially required "bottleneck" courses; and to limit the number of course units students are allowed to take at in-state tuition rates to 150 percent of the number needed to earn a degree, in order to "encourage students to identify an educational goal and reach it in a timely and efficient way." ...