Board of Regents approve state funding request

IOWA CITY - The Board of Regents unanimously agreed on Wednesday to ask the state for an additional $12.9 million in the 2016 budget year to help roll out new funding metrics that emphasize in-state enrollment.

But two regents continued to express concern with how its new metrics will affect the University of Iowa if the state does not approve the additional funding. And Regent Bob Downer, as reported in The Gazette over the weekend, again called on the larger board to 'revisit” its performance-based funding model.

'After a great deal of study and soul-searching, I have determined that I will be voting in favor of the request for ($12.9 million) to be divided by Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa,” Downer said during the Board of Regents monthly meeting in Ames on Wednesday. 'This is not to be construed as support for the reduction of that amount from the University of Iowa, if the funding is not approved.”

Regent President Bruce Rastetter confirmed for the board on Wednesday that $12.9 million will be reallocated away from the UI and split between the other two institutions in the 2016 budget year if state lawmakers don't approve funding to help implement the new performance- and enrollment-based funding metrics.

The new funding metrics tie 60 of state appropriations to in-state enrollment, 15 percent to progress and attainment, 10 percent to access, 5 percent to sponsored research, and 5 percent to graduate and professional student enrollment. The remaining 5 percent is left for the regents to decide, and this year that portion will be allocated in the same way the rest of the funds are being distributed.

If the formula were to be implemented over one year, UI would lose about $46.5 million. But the approved funding model is set to roll out over three years beginning in 2016, with an annual 2 percent cap on the amount of money that can move from one university to another.

The 2 percent cap calculates out to be $12.9 million, hence the board's request in supplemental funding from state legislators. If the state doesn't provide the additional funding - and if enrollment figures remain unchanged - UI would lose that amount annually, and ISU eventually would become the top funded university in the state.

Downer said on Wednesday that if lawmakers don't provide the supplemental request, he will continue to try to 'modify the actions taken by the board” on June 4, when it approved the new performance-based funding metrics.

He said he doesn't agree with the rational used to develop those metrics, and he doesn't agree that the model will incent institutions to achieve the missions of the board. Downer pointed to the affect he believes the new funding model will have on graduate and professional programs at all three universities.

Regent Subhash Sahai also expressed concerns with how the new funding metrics will affect the UI budget.

'We are hoping we get more money, and I sincerely hope we do, but I feel uncomfortable deep inside that that's too much money to ask (of University of Iowa),” he said.

Sahai also voiced concerns over how the funding model was approved. He said he would have liked more time to consider the proposal, which was developed by a task force before coming to the full board in June.

'I hope the next time a decision like this is made, we have at least two readings on it,” Sahai said.

Rastetter said he believes the cap limiting the amount of money that can be reallocated from one university, paired with the UI plans to grow its total and in-state enrollment, will be enough to minimize the impact of the new funding metrics - even if the state doesn't approve the $12.9 million request.

UI President Sally Mason focused her attention on growing the student body but admitted that only 'time will tell” whether the university will be able to absorb a $12.9 million hit in the 2016 budget year if the state doesn't come through with the extra support.

The $12.9 million supplemental funding request is part of the total $661.94 million appropriations request the Board of Regents on Wednesday agreed to make of the state for the 2016 budget year.