BATON ROUGE La. – Wanted: Strong, well educated and experienced leader who can guide at least $290 million in budget cuts, take repeated and angry criticism from state lawmakers, and get paid less than the university chiefs you will oversee and coordinate.
Oh, and, if you are selected, it’s unclear whether the salary you negotiate will be approved.
Those are among the many requirements and impediments for Louisiana’s new higher education commissioner.
It’s probably not the best time for the Board of Regents to be shopping in the job market. At least half a dozen other states are looking to fill similar positions, and those jobs come with fewer strings attached.
The next commissioner, whom the Regents hope to have in place by January, will step into the position as Louisiana’s public colleges brace for the loss of at least $290 million in federal stimulus money, which lawmakers have said they don’t expect to be able to replace with state funding.
Cuts would begin on July 1, 2011, and come on top of $280 million slashed from state funding for higher education over the past two years. College leaders have warned that the reductions would be devastating. Some lawmakers have suggested campuses might have to be closed or consolidated.
A new higher education chief will help make those decisions and sell them to lawmakers.
