BATON ROUGE – Today, Governor Bobby Jindal addressed the opening of the first Postsecondary Education Review Commission meeting. Governor Jindal urged the commission to review four specific areas for reform, including aligning educational attainment of students with the state’s economic development needs, comparing higher education spending versus performance, building on areas of excellence and improving the efficiency of the higher education system by eliminating duplication and waste.
Governor Jindal said, “I come here as a big supporter of higher education. I believe in the mission of higher education and I know how important it is to the future of our state. We cannot afford for the higher education system to do anything but succeed. But, we have higher expectations for higher education.
“Indeed, we heard it over and over again this past session that it’s time to make reforms to the higher education system to ensure that it’s operating more efficiently and can be successful throughout these challenging budget times. That time is now and this commission is charged with driving the reforms we need to create a strong and sustainable higher education system.
“This commission cannot be just another exercise, just another report to add to the shelf. We cannot afford to continue the status quo. The higher education community must exercise the leadership needed to implement the decisions recommended by this commission.”
Governor Jindal signed HB 794 by Speaker Tucker which established the Postsecondary Education Review Commission to conduct a comprehensive review of postsecondary education in Louisiana. The commission is charged with reviewing all aspects of postsecondary education in order to ensure that the enterprise is operating efficiently, effectively, and in a manner that best serves students, their families, and the state.
The first area the Governor asked the commission to review is the importance of aligning the educational attainment of students with the state’s economic development needs. The Governor said that his administration’s number one priority is fostering an economic environment that enables businesses to invest, expand and create more jobs for Louisianians.
Governor Jindal said, “We’ve made incredible progress by creating tens of thousands of new jobs, but we must have a higher education system that is preparing our people for these jobs. In short, we need to make sure that educational attainment is in line with the economic development needs of our state.
He said that occupational forecasts show that Louisiana will need approximately 35,000 employees to fill new jobs each year for the next ten years – and that most will require more than a high school diploma, but less than a four-year degree.
However, Governor Jindal said Louisiana’s postsecondary education system is headed in the opposite direction, still enrolling far more students in four-year rather than two-year colleges.
The Governor said the current student distribution between four-year and two-year colleges is 75 percent to 25 percent. As a comparison, among Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) member states, the distribution is 56 percent to 44 percent. In Louisiana, 32 percent of first-time freshmen enroll in two-year institutions, compared to 44 percent in SREB states and 41 percent nationally.
Governor Jindal said the commission must look at the urgent need to redistribute enrollments among Louisiana’s two-year and four-year campuses. He said that a primary way to do that is by raising admissions standards at four-year schools.
Governor Jindal said, “We can no longer afford to admit students that are not prepared to complete four-year programs – only to have them drop out or fail out with thousands of dollars in debt. That will not help our efforts to expand our economy though an educated workforce, but most importantly, it’s simply not fair to these students to start them out in their careers with unnecessary debt and lacking the skills they need to succeed in the marketplace. We need to make sure students start out at institutions that best suits their ability and needs.”
The Governor also urged the commission to look at the degree programs that institutions are offering and how they match up with the state’s economic development needs.
Governor Jindal said, “Currently, we’re offering degree programs that are not aligned with state and regional workforce needs, meaning that we are not matching our students with the best chance of success to learn new skills and find good-paying jobs in Louisiana.”
The second area the Governor urged the commission to review is spending on higher education versus the performance of the system.
Governor Jindal said, “During the session, we committed to limit the cuts to higher education to less than 10 percent, and we did just that. Still, our state’s financial outlook tells us that current levels of spending – coupled with low results – are simply not sustainable. The taxpayers of this state, our college students, and our future college students, deserve better.”
The Governor said Louisiana ranks high in postsecondary education spending increases, but performance continues to lag behind the rest of the nation.
For instance, Louisiana ranks third in the nation for percentage increase in state tax appropriations for higher education from FY 1998 to FY 2008 and also ranked among the top states for state appropriations per capita and personal income in 2008.
He also noted that the percentage change in funding for higher education funding per student increased by 16 percent more than the southern regional average from 2003 to 2008.
Governor Jindal said, “But when you compare the increases in spending to performance, it’s quite lopsided. Indeed, Louisiana made investments in higher education a priority, but unfortunately those investments have not yielded the results we all hoped for.”
The Governor said retention and graduation rates remain very low. Even among SREB states, Louisiana’s graduation rate of 37 percent is the lowest in the region.
Governor Jindal said these figures are unacceptable and show that increased spending alone does not guarantee better performance. The Governor noted that the funding mechanism is partly to blame.
Governor Jindal said, “For too many years, we have funded based on headcount rather than on priorities. We have incentivized inflated enrollments over improved outcomes, driving our colleges and universities to operate outside of their mission, seeking size over excellence.
“We’ve taken steps to improve the way we fund colleges and universities with a new formula. Nobody agrees that the formula is perfect, and there can definitely be improvements.”
Governor Jindal urged the commission to take a close look at the state’s funding mechanisms and to continue looking for ways to incentivize better outcomes.
The third area the Governor asked the commission to review is how to build upon each institution’s high-performing programs.
Governor Jindal said, “As I’ve said before, every college and university cannot be all things to all people. Each of our institutions meets a unique need in our state and in their communities, and instead of supporting duplicative programs and research, we need to support what each does best.”
The Governor noted that when he was President of the University of Louisiana System, they designated unique “Centers of Excellence” at all of their campuses, and the state’s college and university leaders must continue to identify and support the high-performing programs that have the potential to yield great results.
He noted that Louisiana also currently ranks 25th in federal research and development support in higher education, but the state cannot settle for average.
The Governor said that by strengthening Louisiana’s strongest research centers, the state can go from average to excellent and not only attract more external funding, but also make students and the state more competitive.
He also noted that strong states have excellent flagship universities, and that is why it’s critical to make LSU a nationally competitive flagship university – able to compete not just with regional peers, but national and international competitors.
Governor Jindal said, “Being a flagship university is more than just excellence on the baseball or football field. It’s excellence in every area that is critical to our state and it means keeping the best and brightest here at home at our schools.”
The fourth and final area the Governor urged the commission to review is how to improve the efficiency of the higher education system by eliminating duplication and waste.
Governor Jindal said, “In order to support these high-performing programs, the higher education community will have to eliminate a number of unnecessary duplications and inefficiencies that are currently holding progress back.
“Whether it’s eliminating low-performing or duplicative academic programs, administrative departments, or reorganizing campuses according to their missions, our postsecondary system must maximize the impact of every dollar spent.”
The Governor noted that the Board of Regents recently identified 90 technical, community college, and university programs with extremely low-completion rates and possible unnecessary duplication.
Governor Jindal said, “This is a good first step in right-sizing our postsecondary system into a leaner, more effective enterprise, but we cannot stop there.”
