The Texas Association of Community Colleges released a report in late March that detailed the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s recommendations for funding that will be presented to the legislature for the 2010-2011 biennium. On Feb. 25, the THECB commissioner, Raymund A. Paredes, Ph.D., gave a presentation to the House Select Committee on Higher & Public Education Finance to outline some new funding recommendations.
The commissioner’s recommendations include a major shift in the timing of calculating the contact hours for base funding. Instead of funding based on contact hours attempted calculated on the 12th class day, the recommendation calls for funding based on the last class day of the semester. The commissioner’s report calls this “a significant shift in policy relating to formula funding.”
Currently the state funds at a rate of approximately 75 percent based on the contact hours attempted. The commissioner’s recommendation would increase funding to 100 percent less tuition costs based on completed contact hours. With numbers for contact hours figured on the last day of classes, it would shift much of the focus to retention in classes as part of a performance-basis for funding. The commissioner also included a recommendation for $100 million to be trusteed to the THECB for what is categorized under “success funding” in the full report. The report details “successs funding” as, “an incentive funding proposal contained in The New Community College Compact with Texas published in November 2006. … The success funding would be allocated based on degrees and certificates awarded.”
The commissioner estimates the change in funding patterns would increase the total appropriation for community and technical colleges by 26 percent or $460 million. The idea of an addition in dollars with funding at 100 percent is not new. George Herring, vice president for business services, said the coordinating board consistently asks for funding at the 100 percent rate, but to date that hasn’t happened.
At first glance, this new formula would drastically affect funding for all colleges and universities in the state. This may or may not be the case on closer examination of the college’s pattern for contact hours. Students who stay in class through the 12th day to ensure they receive their financial aid, but don’t keep coming to classes through the end of the semester would no longer be funded through the state. As students drop classes, the college’s contact hours for funding also would drop. The language of the commissioner’s recommendation is a bit unclear in that it calls for funding for “completed contact hours,” but uses the last day of class as the census date. What happens to the contact hours with students who don't make it to the end of class? There’s no clarifying language that addresses that question in the commissioner’s report.
Daniel Hubbard, director of institutional research, gathered some recent numbers to see if the college’s contact hours drop off as the semester continues. The addition of hours from flex-entry and non-traditional courses that begin after the 12th class certification day adds approximately 3 percent to the total number of students after the certification day has passed, according to Daniel. For the Fall 2007 semester, the number of students increased by 2.5 percent and the number of contact hours increased by 1.6 percent from figures at certification versus figures at the end of the term.
Such a drastic change has generated a good deal of discussion at many levels within the district and between community colleges around the state. Since the legislature will not settle on a funding formula for several months, it is expected that discussions will continue, so look for additional information as the future of formula funding is under scrutiny.
