Sen. Jack Donahue wants a hard look at higher education

With all the carving knives flying around college campus budgets these days, Sen. Jack Donahue of Mandeville wants to take a hard look at higher education in Louisiana. The first-term legislator met Tuesday with four Senate colleagues—Mike Michot of Lafayette, Ben Nevers of Bogalusa and Mike Walsworth of West Monroe—and Louisiana Higher Education Commissioner Sally Clausen to determine a plan of action. Donahue plans to introduce a resolution calling for an external expert to scrutinize the system and bring recommendations for possible closures, consolidations or alternative financing. “I would like to see us as a state of Louisiana have a plan as far as post-secondary education is concerned,” Donahue says. “We need to know what sized system the state can afford to have, and how we can fund that properly. There may not be enough money to fund the system we’d like to have if it’s funded properly.” Higher education as a whole is absorbing $218 million in budget cuts this year, $219 million next year, and possibly $400 million the year after that. Louisiana currently spends $1.3 billion on its 14 universities. Read the rest of the story and the full 10/12 Weekly here.—Penny Font