Governor’s proposed budget doesn’t match up with Regents new funding model

Although the Board of Regents this week praised the governor's 2016 budget proposal for its support of a third-straight tuition freeze and its 'endorsement” of a new regent-backed funding model, the governor's budget does not shift resources between Iowa's three universities according to the regents' new proposed funding metrics.

The governor's proposal also does not provide the $12.9 million the Board of Regents requested to roll out its new enrollment- and performance-based funding metrics, which would tie 60 percent of state appropriations to resident enrollment, 5 percent to graduate and professional enrollment, and another 35 percent to performance metrics - including 10 percent for 'access,” to be measured by enrollment of specific types of students, like veterans.

Instead, the governor's budget proposes a 1.75 percent funding increase over each of the public university's 2015 allocation levels - following the 'base-plus” model of distributing state appropriations, which has been used since 1945 and keeps the University of Iowa as the top-funded regent institution.

The governor's proposal does include $4 million for 'performance-based funding,” which the Board of Regents could distribute 'based on its criteria,” said Jimmy Centers, spokesman for the governor's office.

'The governor is supportive of the Board of Regents' decision to move forward with performance-based funding,” Centers said.

But the Board of Regents last year requested $12.9 million to help roll out its new proposed enrollment- and performance-based funding metrics - the amount UI would lose in appropriations in the new model's first year.

Iowa State University and University of Northern Iowa, which have larger portions of in-state students than UI, would split that total -- $6.4 million would go to ISU and $6.6 million would go to UNI. If the Legislature failed to provide the $12.9 million, the Board of Regents has said, it would come from UI's appropriations.

But, according to the governor's detailed budget proposal made public this week, even the Board of Regents official request for 2016 and 2017 doesn't seem to shift dollars based on new funding metrics. The regents 2016 request, for example, increased allocations for each university by 1.75 percent over the previous year's allocations - as has been done for decades - but added another $6.4 million for ISU and $6.6 million for UNI in connection with the new funding metrics.

'Technically, the regents submitted a regular budget and didn't change it based on the metrics,” said Sen. Bob Dvorsky, D-Coralville. 'All they did was add the $12.9 million.”

Dvorsky said he and other lawmakers have questions around how the regents' budget request connects with its new funding metrics. And he's unsure how the governor's proposal translates to support for the regents' funding model.

'I don't know exactly know how to read this other than I think he is supporting the idea of performance-based funding but not with his budget,” he said.

Supporters of the new funding model say it's a much-improved formula that ties state dollars to regent and university goals and provides stronger support for the education of Iowans. But some have voiced concerns about potential unintended consequences - like the impact on private and community colleges - and others have expressed confusion about the budgeting.

'When you get to that point, you go back to the basics,” Dvorsky said.

He'd like to see a larger task force convened around the issue of higher education funding involving not just regent university representatives but those from the community colleges, private universities, and the Legislature.

'That way, they could take more time and really look at this,” Dvorsky said.

As for the governor's proposal, Dvorsky said, he's initially supportive of it - although he doesn't know specifics about how the $4 million might be split among the institutions.

The Board of Regents, in a statement this week, maintained hope the Legislature will 'fully implement the board's requested $12.9 million.”

'The board remains committed to working with the General Assembly to secure the remaining funds necessary to fully implement performance based funding and to also ensure the University of Iowa is held harmless in this transition,” according to the statement.

Patrice Sayre, chief business officer for the Board of Regents, said the governor showed support for the model with his $4 million proposal, but she acknowledged his recommendation used the traditional base-plus way of allocating state support.

When asked by UI staff members Wednesday about what the governor's proposal means for measures the university is taking to both grow while also becoming more efficient, UI Vice President for Human Resources Susan Buckley said it's too soon to know what lawmakers will do with the governor's proposal.

'We have no idea how that will play out,” she said.