WAFB Channel 9, Baton Rouge, LA |Regents Formula will Cost State More Money
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BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - The Louisiana Board of Regents says a plan to reformulate the way the state funds Louisiana colleges, by creating methods to reward performance, will cost the state about $35 million more annually.
The existing formula does little to factor in graduation rates and research success. Governor-elect Bobby Jindal said creating performance incentives to reward college quality is a good first step.
Jindal often criticizes the state's current higher-education funding formula, which is based primarily on enrollment. The pending proposal from the Board of Regents mostly adds incentives to the existing funding formula, rather than restructuring the formula.
The proposal will eventually go to the Legislature. The colleges plan to ask for an estimated $177 million in new money for next year.
That funding would be added to the $400 million approved during the 2007 legislative session, the first time in 26 years state colleges were funded to the regional average.
