| Lawmakers to consider higher ed proposal |
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Posted: Monday, January 18, 2010 9:05 pm
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| By LUCAS JOHNSON II Associated Press Writer NASHVILLE (AP) — Lawmakers and education officials say Gov. Phil Bredesen’s proposed changes in higher education will benefit the state longterm despite challenges to some colleges and universities. The changes are part of a special session the governor called to also make changes in K-12 education policy, which he said was needed to strengthen the state’s application for $485 million worth of federal “Race to the Top” money. Lawmakers approved those changes last week before the Jan. 19 deadline. Now, lawmakers will fo-cus on proposed higher education changes, including changing the state’s funding formula to emphasize graduation rates instead of enrollment size. Bredesen said the graduate rate at four-year schools in Tennessee is 44 percent, while that rate drops to 12 percent at community colleges. “You’re talking to somebody who is very sympathetic to the challenges of somebody changing their whole world around at the time that they’re 18 and trying to deal with the academic issues and everything else,” the governor said. “I think we can do a lot better job using community colleges and the higher education of helping these kids get through.” Bredesen said he also wants to spur more dual enrollment, delegate remedial coursework to two-year schools and create a statewide transfer program between community colleges and four-year schools. But the main goal is changing the funding formula, which education officials say they expect to be tough for some institutions currently struggling with low graduation rates. “The changes under discussion ... pose some challenges at our universities — more at some than at others,” said Tennessee Board of Regents Chancellor Charles Manning. “The biggest factor in graduation rates is student readiness to do college-level work, and that varies substantially among our universities. We anticipate ... that the funding formula will take that into account so that each university has an achievable stretch goal given its particular circumstances.” Bredesen said he intends to implement the changes “over a period of time.” “When you’re running a big institution, you can’t take some huge change,” he said. “We’re looking at phasing in 20 percent a year over five years.” Regardless of the implementation, supporters of the changes say they will benefit the state’s students. “It’s certainly time to make these changes, to take it in a different direction to where productivity outcomes become more important than simple growth,” said interim University of Tennessee President Jan Simek. Rep. John Deberry said he’s particularly fond of the governor’s proposed statewide transfer program between community colleges and four-year schools after hearing complaints from students who “do everything that they’re asked to do” only to find out their credits don’t transfer. “A lot of them, quite frankly, have just given up because it’s taken them so long, because they’ve got to go back and retake courses at various institutions,” said the Memphis Democrat. “So I like that change.” The governor is also proposing a program called the UT Energy Campus at Oak Ridge in which the state would make up to 200 faculty appointments among existing researchers at Oak Ridge National Lab. Bredesen said the faculty expansion will create demand for up to 400 new graduate assistants and could help boost the University of Tennessee in the top 25 public research institutions in the country. The proposal has drawn criticism from some lawmakers who say the governor is neglecting other higher education institutions. Published in The Messenger 1.18.10 |
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