Thursday Churn: College funding

What’s churning:

State tax support becomes less and less significant every year for state colleges and universities, now providing only about a quarter of higher ed revenues.

Some legislative leaders, still hopeful that better budget days will return, want to create new rules for supporting state colleges, which now are funded largely on the basis of enrollment.

Senate Bill 11-052, to be heard during the Senate Education Committee’s 1:30 p.m. meeting this afternoon, would base 25 percent of state support on colleges’ success in meeting goals that would be negotiated between institutions and the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, starting in 2016-17 (details here).

Senate prime sponsor Sen. Rollie Health, D-Boulder, already has retooled his original bill in consultation with the Hickenlooper administration. But higher ed leaders are leery of such changes at a time when state support is still in freefall, so it may be an interesting hearing.

What’s on tap:

The Denver school board holds a regular meeting beginning at 5 p.m. and a public comment session beginning at 6:30 p.m., 900 Grant St. Agenda.

Good reads from elsewhere:

Big supporter: A Washington, D.C., voucher program for impoverished families is being backed by House Speaker John Boehner. Washington Post.

Against big odds: Manual High School’s Urban Debate League team overcomes big challenges. Westword.