CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State Higher Education Chancellor Dr. Sarah Armstrong Tucker is catching her breath after a busy legislative session that included shepherding the higher education funding formula bill through the state Senate and House of Delegates.
HB 4008 gained final passage back on Saturday, the last day of the 60-day session.
Tucker said she’s thankful lawmakers agreed with the state’s colleges and universities that it’s time to have a more concrete way to fund higher education.
Tucker said the work done in the months before the session was the key to getting the bill passed. She had 19 campus presidents on board.
“That’s absolutely the biggest reason it passed,” Tucker told MetroNews Wednesday. “We had to establish trust among the higher education institutions with our office and we were trying to make sure everyone knew were trying to do the best for higher education and its students and we were able to do that.”
The funding formula bill got positive comments from lawmakers along the way.
The House originally passed its version of the bill on Feb. 16. It was approved on a unanimous vote.
Delegate Paul Espinosa, R-Jefferson said when he first arrived at the legislature in 2013 he soon noticed there was not set way to fund the state’s colleges and universities.
“I questioned why various institutions were funded differently than others. After repeated questioning I came to the conclusion there really wasn’t a rational, fair, transparent basis on how our higher education institutions were funded,” Espinosa said.
Delegate Larry Rowe, D-Kanawha, lauded the work of the HEPC and 19 campus presidents who came to an agreement on a funding formula.
“It’s not a punitive system but it is a system that encourages each of the schools to push hard to have their students complete their academic program,” Rowe said.
The college and university presidents have already agreed on what measures will be in the formula including credit hour progress of students, degree completion and post graduate earnings, Tucker repeated Wednesday.
“There are lots of different measures that institutions can earn credit for along the way,” Tucker said.
The original bill introduced included one significant change. If the bill is signed into law by the governor, four-year schools can create new four-year academic programs prioritized in the funding formula model without the approval of the state Higher Education Policy Commission. Those programs can only be on the school’s main campus, according to the bill.
After the bill becomes law, higher education officials will write emergency rules that will be approved in the coming months. Schools will then use the funding formula for the budget process for the 2023 fiscal year that begins next fall. Tucker said permanent rules would then go before the legislature in next year’s regular session.
Tucker said there will be no surprises in the rules.
“The rules will formalize the outline. We’ve already agreed across the institutions with how the formula is going to work, what it’s going to look like. Now we just have to write that down on paper in the rule-making process,” Tucker said.
Gov. Jim Justice has several days to consider bills that passed the final day of the session.
Tucker credits lawmakers for their support.
“I’m thankful to the legislature for recognizing how hard we’ve worked,” Tucker said.