Former regent: New funding model needs more scrutiny

Iowa State University and University of Northern Iowa representatives are continuing to call for an 'all hands on deck” approach to salvaging a new method for funding Iowa's public universities that recently was cut out of legislative budget discussions.

But one lawmaker said those calls are coming with misinformation, and one former regent said he thinks implementing the funding change would be rash, reckless, and misguided.

'Before the Iowa General Assembly approves a funding model to replace one which has been utilized for seven decades, it would be well advised to subject the proposal to a much greater level of scrutiny and analysis than was given to it by the Board of Regents,” said former regent Bob Downer, who cast the lone 'no” vote against the new 'performance-based funding” model last summer.

Downer, whose 12-year tenure as a regent expired April 30, criticized the proposed funding formula through a guest opinion submitted this week to The Gazette in response to one penned last week by ISU President Steven Leath and UNI President Bill Ruud.

'I believe that persons reading their comments might reach the conclusion that the only two alternatives are the present ‘base-plus' funding model in place since the 1940s, and the so-called ‘performance-based funding' model approved by the Board of Regents,” Downer wrote in his piece. 'I disagree … and submit that many important considerations were either ignored or rejected in the formation of the performance-based funding model.”

The Iowa House and Senate both recently passed education budgets excluding the new funding metrics, which would tie 60 percent of state support to resident enrollment, 5 percent to graduate and professional enrollment, and at least 30 percent to performance metrics.

That prompted the ISU and UNI presidents to write the guest opinion urging Iowans to contact legislators in support of the formula. And the ISU Alumni Association this week emailed members asking they do the same.

'We need all hands on deck, as senators and house members from your district have been assigned by party leadership to serve on the Conference Committee for Education,” according to the Alumni Association email. 'They will be crafting a recommendation addressing the regents' recommendation on the performance-based funding initiative.”

But Sen. Bob Dvorsky, D-Coralville, said that's not true.

'They won't,” he said. 'They can't consider that because it's not in either bill. If you follow conference committee rules, you can't add anything … That's unfortunate that they're sending out inaccurate information.”

Dvorsky said a slim possibility exists that performance-based funding language could be added to one of two bills yet to pass.

'But that's a real long shot,” he said.

Dvorsky said lawmakers have proposed higher education funding in the upcoming budget year that addresses Iowa State's growth, UNI's budget concerns, and a proposed tuition freeze for resident undergraduates. He said any future change in the higher education funding model would have to take a broader, statewide view to gain legislative support.

'I would assume it would be on the regents to go back and come up with something that all higher education could benefit from,” Dvorsky said.

In last week's guest opinion from Leath and Ruud, the presidents argued the current funding model is inequitable in that it distributes 46 percent of state support to UI, 36 percent to ISU, and 18 percent to UNI.

When lawmakers appropriate more money, it's uniformly distributed based on those funding levels, keeping UI as the top funded institution despite major growth at ISU and budget woes at UNI, according to Leath and Ruud.

But former regent Downer in his response this week argued the proposed funding model ignores the fact that some students - like those in graduate and professional programs - cost more to educate than many undergraduates.

'The vast majority of these costly but essential programs are located at the University of Iowa, which is the only public source in Iowa for new physicians, dentists, pharmacists, and many other health professionals,” Downer wrote in his guest opinion.

He said he's been asking fellow regents since last summer how those more expensive programs would be supported under the new funding model.

'Nearly a year later, I am still waiting for an answer,” he wrote.

Downer also mentioned the importance of bringing out-of-state students into Iowa and said a declining pool of high school graduates makes that imperative. By incentivizing universities to fight harder for in-state students, many private and community colleges that rely heavily on in-state enrollment could be harmed, according to Downer.

'I would submit that these marketing efforts would be much better directed to potential college enrollees from outside our borders, thereby bringing into Iowa additional new money, additional students, and potential additions to our workforce,” he said.