BATON ROUGE, La. — The final list of recommendations from a higher education restructuring panel would shift the way dollars are divvied up among Louisiana’s public college campuses and reshuffle governance of the schools.
The Postsecondary Education Review Commission, a nine-member panel charged by the Legislature with proposing ways to’ improve colleges in Louisiana, completed its report Friday. Now, the focus shifts to college leaders, who have given mixed reviews to the recommendations, and to lawmakers who would have to buy into the ideas for many of them to be enacted.
The panel suggested cutting the number of higher education governing boards, rewriting the formula that divides state dollars among campuses, raising admission standards at four-year campuses and giving colleges more of a say in setting their tuition rates.
“I think they’ve given us a pathway, and it’s up to us now to put those recommendations into action,” said state Commissioner of Higher Education Dr. Sally Clausen.
The commission was filled with national and regional higher education experts. Its report heads next to the Board of Regents, which governs all public higher education in the state.
Lawmakers hope some of the proposals will help lessen the blow of several rounds of budget cuts to public colleges. House Speaker Jim Tucker, R-Terrytown, whose legislation created the commission, said he would include many of the panel’s recommendations in a bill for the upcoming session that begins in March.
Some of the commission’s proposals would require only policy changes from the Board of Regents, while others would require changes in state law or Louisiana’s constitution.
