President’s Circle on the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City is pictured on Monday, Jan. 15, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
Cutting some college programs in favor of expanding more efficient ones has been a controversial proposal since the Utah Legislature heard the results of an audit that proposed shutting down funding for degrees with low enrollment and graduation rates.
HB1, a big part of the state’s plans to optimize resources, saw a smooth, almost unanimous passage in both the House and Senate last week. It’s a higher education routine base budget the Legislature passes every year. This year, however, that bill had a novel addition — a $60 million “strategic reinvestment account.”
While that awaits Gov. Spencer Cox’s signature, another bill, HB265, is advancing in the House providing instructions to the Utah Board of Higher Education on the reallocation process.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
The House Education Committee voted 10-3 — with two Democrats, Reps. Sahara Hayes of Millcreek and Carol Spackman Moss of Holladay, and new Republican Rep. Tiara Auxier of Morgan, voting against — to pass the legislation on Friday. It now heads to the full House for consideration.
Rep. Karen Peterson, R-Clinton, who is sponsoring both pieces of legislation, said this is a good opportunity to make Utah’s already good institutions better. The state is expecting a 10% cut of budgets for courses, aiming to switch that funding from “underperforming programs” to degrees that have waitlists. But, those reallocations may also come from cuts in administrative costs.
“We want them to think about operational efficiencies,” Peterson said. “We want them to think about, is there a better way we could do procurement? Is there a better way we could combine colleges so maybe we have less people at the top but more money for programming at the bottom?”
That could look like reductions in staff, she said, or increasing efficiencies within processes. “They’ll have to make that determination on what makes sense.”
Utah is planning on cutting inefficient college programs — some Republicans are not fully on board
Peterson already knows she doesn’t want to continue to have programs “that have no students involved in them.” But, those who are already in programs that end up on the chopping block will be allowed to complete them during the reinvestment process, she said.
Education reinvestment is among the top issues on Democrats’ radars this general session, as they worry this may be the start of substantial changes to liberal arts degrees and courses that teach critical thinking.
House Minority Leader Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, said during the first day of the session that while she believes the state should consider the driving forces of the market when making budget decisions, she doesn’t want to take away students’ academic freedom to choose certain career paths, including majors like gender studies and history.
“I have concerns. Is this really about the economy and where the jobs are?” she said. “Or is this about an ideology difference in trying to take away that academic freedom from young people who may choose what they want to study, and take as long as they want?”
How would the reinvestment work
For now, Commissioner of Higher Education Geoff Landward, who sat next to Peterson during her committee presentation, said on Friday the bill aligns with many statutory responsibilities in place for the public higher education system, including analyzing data on programs’ quality, enrollment, graduation rates and work placement, among other factors.
One of the system’s priorities while consulting with the bill drafters was to limit the size of the cut “to allow for a reasonable approach, not catastrophic adjustments,” he said. The schools also advocated to craft a plan that took multiple factors into consideration, rather than “a single formulaic approach.”
“I think this does that. We wanted to make sure that the process was objective and data driven, not subjective, or could be arbitrary or capricious. I think that it does that,” Landward said. “We also want to make sure it allows for nuance, such as the demand for durable skills.”
If HB265 passes, colleges would work with the Board of Higher Education to submit a reallocation plan for the Executive Appropriations Subcommittee’s consideration in August. But, they have three years to implement that plan to receive the ongoing total of $60 million retained by the state in the “strategic reinvestment account,” Peterson said.
The institutions would study factors such as enrollment, demand and outcomes to determine which cuts to make. They would also look at their structures to determine if it makes sense to have as many programs as they have and whether it is appropriate to combine programs.
The reinvestment plan would be established in a phased approach, Peterson said. The institutions would receive all funds in the next couple of years. However, in 2026, at least 30% of the total reinvestment funds should be allocated to their new endeavors. In 2027, that would increase to 70%, and in 2028, 100% of the funds should be reallocated.
While Peterson’s bill doesn’t specifically target general education classes, she expects some colleagues to introduce legislation that addresses their core.
She’s still uncertain about what that would entail, as she hasn’t seen any bills yet. But, she mentioned that in recent years, the Board of Higher Education studied general education requirements, but kept them at a 30 credit-hour-standard for bachelor’s degrees, she said.
“There has been some conversation about, is that course still meeting our needs? Especially around things like communication, critical thinking, and then just kind of foundational knowledge about our country and those kinds of skills,” she said. “So I think that’s an ongoing conversation.”
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.