Higher education ‘super board’ bill stalls in committee

A bill that would consolidate all of the state’s higher education governing boards into one “super board” of trustees failed to pass out of the Senate Finance Committee Monday, and is likely dead for the session, after a lengthy debate and stark testimony from college and university leaders.  
The committee voted 7-2 to defer Senate Bill 67 by Sen. Conrad Appel, R-Metairie.  
Appel argued the five governing boards for colleges and universities -- UL, LSU, Louisiana Community and Technical College and Southern systems and the current Board of Regents – have refused to acknowledge that funding for the state’s schools has dropped, and likely will not increase in the next few years.  
He painted the higher education structure as bureaucratic, inefficient and stagnant, and called the boards a “luxury,” in the face of significantly fewer state dollars. “They’re all fighting over money, they’re all fighting over turf, because they’re separate groups.”
But leaders from those systems said the drop in state funding -- higher education received roughly $800 million less from the state in 2016 than it did in 2008 – is the real problem, and the bill misses the point.  
“We’ve been cut 15 times in nine years. That’s the problem.  Moving the chairs on the Titanic isn’t going to do anything,” said LSU System President F. King Alexander.  
The bill also faced resistance from advocates of historically black colleges and universities with the Southern University System is the only HBCU system in the country.  
“The fact that you have the only HBCU system in the country, right here in this state,is something to be proud of,” said Preston Castille, president of the Southern University Alumni Federation.  
Southern University Board of Supervisors Chairman Leon Tarver said similar measures to consolidate higher education boards have come up consistently over the last 30 or 40 years, and always have died in the Legislature.  
“The board proposal will not only be costly and chaotic, but it will not lead to any specific outcome,” said Board of Regents chairman Richard Lipsey.  
But Appel said the state needs “bold” initiatives from higher education boards, and the Board of Regents is not providing that. “We’ve got to find out a way to turn that limited money into the best bang for our buck for our kids.”  
Appel and Sen. Sharon Hewitt, R-Slidell, cast the lone “yes” votes in favor of the bill.