Gov. Bobby Jindal’s “education reform” agenda for this year’s regular session is sort of like a three-legged policy stool, with its goals of allowing college tuition increases, freeing up campus purchasing operations and merging most of the state’s higher ed oversight boards. But one of these legs — the proposal to hike tuition and related fees — may be a touch short, some of the governor’s critics argue, and it causes the entire stool to wobble.
In general, Jindal said in a major announcement late last month that he would be willing to permit colleges to boost their own tuition thresholds in exchange for better outcomes. Jindal started down this particular road during last year’s regular session when he ushered in the LA Grad Act, which grants colleges and universities increased autonomy and flexibility in exchange for a commitment to meet clearly defined statewide performance goals, including better graduation rates.
The numbers paint a bleak picture: Over the past two years, roughly $315 million has been cut from higher education in Louisiana, about $290 in federal stimulus money expires this year and a 10% or so reduction — around $90 million — has long been expected from the 2011 regular session.
But Jindal said his three-legged policy stool will go a long way in chipping some of the bulk off of this percentage. “Through the use of creative solutions to protect higher education services while improving outcomes, we expect the reduction to higher education to now be less than 10%. This means we will propose a budget that does not cut more than 10% of state general fund for higher education,” Jindal says, adding that there could be even more savings based on new revenues generated by his proposals.
Says Jindal spokesperson Kyle Plotkin: “The plan enhances the LA GRAD Act to help schools better manage their budgets and give them more tuition authority while driving improved outcomes for students.”
Although the governor has been adamant throughout his term about not raising taxes, state Rep. Dee Richard of Thibodaux, who has no political party affiliation, said that’s what Jindal is calling for — a tax increase. And it’s a tax increase, he says, because it’s a cost being passed onto a consumer though a government directive. “That’s what it is. Let’s just call it what it is,” says Richard, who sits on the Ways and Means Committee, the House’s tax-writing panel. “I’m really concerned about this. Didn’t we already do this with the Grad Act already? We have a real spending problem in this state. That means we should be cutting spending, not raising taxes.”
Jindal says he actually has plans to update the Grad Act in this year’s session, in addition to his proposals to rework the way higher ed students, even those at technical and community colleges, are charged for tuition. So far, Jindal has announced his intentions to:
:: Increase operational fees for students to 4% of total tuition costs, to cover mandated expenditures;
::Phase in standardized community college tuitions across the state for an average increase of about $190 per student; and
::Raise the cap on per credit hour tuition from 12 to 15 hours and also require that schools implement tougher course drop policies.
It’s an ambitious plan for a governor facing re-election and already editorial writers, like those at The Advocate in Baton Rouge, have been quick to label it as a “tax.”
Hammond attorney and political blogger C.B. Forgotston has undertaken a series of radio interviews carrying the same message. Forgotston says that higher education has become the “stalking horse” for higher taxes in Louisiana.
For example, he said lawmakers implement cuts to higher education’s budget, which in turn forces college officials to increase fees and tuition for students using tools like the Grad Act. “History indicates the more college tuition is raised, the fewer existing state dollars will flow into higher education. The existing state dollars supplanted by increased tuition are used to fund lesser priorities in the state budget,” says Forgotston, a former chief counsel to the budget-drafting Appropriations Committee. “One wonders if the college students and their parents who pay tuition understand how this shell game is being played.”
The topic is expected to be discussed at length by the Jindal administration and lawmakers during this year’s regular session, which convenes April 25.
