BLINN EXPECTED TO SEE INCREASED STATE FUNDING THROUGH BILL SETTING PERFORMANCE-BASED MODEL FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGES
A bill making its way through the Texas Legislature would mark a major shift to the funding structure of community colleges, one that would potentially provide great benefit to Blinn College.
House Bill 8 recently passed in the House chamber and is headed to the Senate. According to Blinn Executive Vice Chancellor Leighton Schubert, the legislation would change the primary source of state funding from being based on the number of hours students are in the classroom to how many students receive a degree or certificate or transfer to a four-year university.
In addition to the overhauled funding model, the state would also inject over $600 million in extra money for community colleges to support what is outlined in the bill. Schubert said this changes how the “pie” of state funds is allocated, but it also enlarges the pie itself.
Schubert believes Blinn is “well-positioned” with the changes to community college funding proposed in the bill and feels it would be a “very positive thing” for the College.
Currently, about 25 percent of Blinn’s budget is made up of state funding, with tuition, fees and property tax revenue accounting for the rest. Schubert said it is not known exactly how much additional money Blinn could see through the legislation, because it is currently a “shell” and has many more rules and stipulations to be defined.
Schubert said Blinn is still being cautious because while the College has seen increased state funding over the past three legislative sessions, state payouts for most other community colleges in Texas have remained static or declined over the past 10 years. He also noted that most community colleges seem to be on board with the legislation, but it could pose issues for extremely small community colleges that do not have the ability to generate large numbers of graduates or transfers. However, the state would set out a one-time provision for this first biennium guaranteeing that no community college would receive less funding than it did during the last legislative session.
Schubert is fairly confident that the bill will pass through the Senate without many further changes in the final version. If it does pass, it will go into effect September 1st.