The special panel created by House Speaker Jim Tucker, R-Algiers, to outline the future of higher education in Louisiana convened for the first time this morning. The Postsecondary Education Review Commission was created during the recent regular session and is charged with investigating ways to reduce state funding for colleges and universities without negatively impacting the institutions. The $1.3 billion shortfall in the current fiscal year has already stripped some services and positions, but subsequent billion-dollar slumps are also expected over the next two fiscal years.
Commissioner of Higher Education Sally Clausen was first to welcome the group and provided a brief overview of the system. “You’re certainly going to have a lot of questions and I encourage you to ask them during this process,” she told the membership. Dr. David Longanecker of Colorado, one of the handfuls of members from outside the state, likewise weighed in early in the meeting on the bigger picture in which Louisiana finds itself. “All of the evidence suggests that the return from this recession, at least in the west, is going to be slow,” says Longanecker, president of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. Read the full story here. —Jeremy Alford
