GOVERNOR GILMORE RECEIVES BLUE RIBBON COMMISSION ON HIGHER EDUCATION REPORT
- Governor Endorses Institutional Performance Agreements -

RICHMOND - The Governor's Blue Ribbon Commission on Higher Education today presented its final report to Governor Gilmore.  Capping 15 months of intensive study and consultation with key higher education leaders, experts and policy makers, the Commission offered 73 recommendations to achieve the three major goals identified by the Governor -- greater affordability, quality, and accountability in Virginia's higher education system.

The centerpiece of the Commission's recommendations is the implementation of six-year Institutional Performance Agreements (IPAs).  The proposal provides each institution with a multi-year funding commitment and enhanced managerial autonomy in return for agreed-upon performance standards addressing academic quality and operational efficiency.  The Governor has already endorsed the Commission's proposal and included language in his executive budget to begin the process of developing agreements through collaboration among each institution, the State Council of Higher Education, and the Legislative and Executive Branches of state government.

"Virginia taxpayers have made a major investment in public higher education, and they undoubtedly will be called upon to make even greater investments in the future," said Governor Gilmore.  "The adoption of Institutional Performance Agreements is crucial to ensuring these investments yield tangible, measurable results in terms of improved academic quality and institutional efficiency.  That is the hallmark of accountability."

The Commission comprises legislators, college presidents and faculty, members of the State Council of Higher Education, and business, professional and community leaders.  It has heard from more than a hundred experts, including many representatives of Virginia's colleges and universities, on various aspects of the higher education enterprise over the course of its fifteen meetings.

The Commission issued an interim report in December 1998 detailing the sharp upward trend in tuition and fees earlier in this decade that threatened to place a college education beyond the reach of Virginia families of ordinary means.  The interim report laid the foundation for Governor Gilmore's successful proposal in 1999 to reduce tuition for Virginia students by 20 percent.

The Commission's final report includes recommendations developed by four task forces that addressed affordability, quality, accountability, and workforce training, research and economic development.  A summary of key recommendations by each task force is attached.

Institutional Performance Agreements:  A proposed framework for funding higher education through six-year agreements, negotiated by the executive and legislative branches of state government with each public higher  education institution (including the Virginia Community College System). (Recommendations 1-21)

Key features:

• The agreements would combine adequate and reliable financial resources and managerial flexibility with institution-specific performance standards and accountability.

• Performance standards would focus on quality, through measures of actual student learning, as well as the efficiency of the institution.

• Institutions would develop the proposed agreements and submit them to the state in 2000.  Following negotiation of funding, performance measures and other issues, the agreements would be adopted through the Appropriations Act in the 2001 or 2002 Session of the General Assembly.

• Build on 20% tuition rollback through continuing tuition and fee restraint for Virginia resident students.  (Recommendations 22-25)  (The Commission noted that the recent tuition restraint and 20% rollback has successfully returned to pre-recession levels the degree of dependence on student resources for higher education funding.)

•  Increase support for student financial aid, including funding 100% of students' "true need" as calculated by the State Council of Higher Education.  (Recommendations 26-28)

• Increase amount of Tuition Assistance Grants for students attending independent colleges.  (Recommendations 29-30)

• Continued emphasis on faculty salary, technology investment, restructuring, and other recent policy initiatives in higher education. (Recommendations 31-45)   (The Commission noted that during 1990-1995, for the first time, general fund appropriations for higher education grew faster than general fund spending as a whole, reflecting the Commonwealth's post-recession emphasis on higher education as a budget priority.)

• A Quality Assurance Plan for each institution that identifies six core competencies that each student earning a degree should have, regardless of institution or major.  The State Council would work with the institutions and assessment experts to define the core competencies and ways of measuring student achievement and regularly reporting the institutional results to higher education consumers and the public.  (Recommendation 46)

• Ensure access to a baccalaureate program to all Virginians who are prepared and motivated to obtain a four-year degree.  (Recommendations 47-50)

• Provide tools needed for academic excellence, including strengthening general education curricula to provide a "core of common learning," rigorous student grading systems to prevent grade inflation, and steps to preserve and enhance quality in undergraduate teaching. (Recommendations 51-56)

• Develop and implement Institutional Performance Agreements for all institutions and the Virginia Community College System.  (see above)

• Provide tools to members of institutions' governing boards to assist them in fulfilling their significant responsibilities to the institutions and to Virginia taxpayers.  (Recommendations 57-62)

• State Council to issue periodic Reports of Institutional Effectiveness based on quality and efficiency performance measures, and to serve as clearinghouse for information about best practices at institutions. (Recommendations 63-64)

• Recommendations to coordinate and enhance workforce training efforts, reflecting the central role of Virginia's institutions of higher education, both two-year and four-year, in those efforts.  (Recommendations 65-67)

• Recognition of the need for Virginia's colleges and universities to support Virginia's K-12 reform efforts by providing rigorously trained new teachers and continuing education programs for teachers already in service who seek to strengthen their skills.  (Recommendation 68)

• Recommendations to support and strengthen efforts of Virginia's colleges and universities to attract both public and private research dollars.   (Recommendations 69-73)

Source: Governor's Update Mailing List, Thursday, January 3, 2000

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Posted: January 3, 2000
By The Educational Policy Institute of Virginia Tech
sjanosik@vt.edu