Our View

Our View

Results-oriented Higher Ed. funding only makes sense

Let us be perfectly clear by starting this off saying that any public official responsible for doling out our tax dollars and who can’t honestly admit dumping millions upon millions of dollars into public education isn’t the solution for a supposed cure-all to poor performance, low graduation rates and other failings has no business in any elected position.

Time after time politicians use the worn out promise to convince voters to elect them is to crusade for more school funding which has never, ever improved the quality of education, the standards or the results.

This political mindset has been used as an election year political tool that has been a popular selling point among the electorate with the misconception that money will provide a better education for their children.

Among the largest budgets in Arkansas’ government is public education and we’re just now seeing politicians and school officials, at least when it comes to secondary education funding, consider a new and better formula.

Back in July the Higher Education Coordinating Board jumped on board with a basic framework for a proposed new formula for the state’s public universities and community colleges that will be based not on enrollment but rather on accomplishments of desired outcomes.

This new formula, which by the way must still gain the full approval of lawmakers when they convene in regular session next January, will be based on increased rates of degree completion and post-graduation job placement.

As expected, there are some politicians in Little Rock who are concerned that some of these public universities and community colleges serving low-income areas will suffer based on the fear those students will be incapable of actually obtaining a degree.

The only responsible question that needs to be answered to such concerns is simple. Why, if a lowincome student doesn’t have the capability of meeting the basic educational requirements to succeed, even enrolled?

The reality is there are some students attending our colleges and universities that would simply be better served moved into some type of workforce development program offered at one of the state’s two-year community colleges. A perfect example of this is exactly what is offered at ASU-Mid-South Community College in West Memphis.

It was during a recent legislative panel meeting with newly hired director of the Arkansas Department of Higher Education, that Sen. Keith Ingram, D-West Memphis, made a good point by saying changes should include doing a better job of tracking former students’ earning power. Ingram when on to explain that it was his observation that a certificate from a two-year school can make a significant difference in a person’s ability to earn money, and we couldn’t agree more.

There is clearly a need to place more emphasis on results which the state’s colleges and universities much take more seriously and this can be accomplished through improved accountability gauged by successful graduation rates.