Hutchinson backs $10M boost for higher education

LITTLE ROCK—Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Monday proposed keeping higher education funding flat next fiscal year but vowed to back a $10 million increase in 2018 if lawmakers support a plan to tie money for colleges and universities to factors such as degree completion.

The Republican governor said he'll call for increasing higher education funding in the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2018 if the Legislature approves the plan to move away funding from a model based on enrollment to "productivity." The state's colleges and universities received about $733 million in the $5.3 billion state budget that was approved earlier this year, and that funding would not change in the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2017 under Hutchinson's proposal.

The state Higher Education Coordinating Board in July approved the framework, which calls for linking schools' funding to factors such as number of students completing degrees, how many graduates get a job or another degree, and how long it takes a student to graduate. The model is aimed at increasing the number of Arkansas residents with degrees.

"The current funding formula for higher education is outdated, it is not really being followed at all in terms of the allocation of funds in our state and it rewards numbers and enrollment versus attainment, goals and efficiencies," Hutchinson said. "It is time for that to change."

Read more: http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/arkansas/story/2016/nov/01/hutchinson-backs-10m-boost-higher-education/647026/