Perry has little to show for big higher-ed plans
BYLINE: HOLLY K. HACKER, hhacker@dallasnews.com
It's been three months since Gov. Rick Perry made a splash with his grand agenda for higher education.
"If lawmakers adopt this plan," he said at the time, "the ultimate result will be a higher-education system that is more affordable, more accountable and more focused on meeting the needs of tomorrow's global marketplace."
What a big "if" that's turned out to be.
With just three frantic weeks left in the legislative session, key parts of Mr. Perry's plan are languishing, largely stripped of their original bold intentions. Consider the following:
*Cash incentives. Mr. Perry wanted $350 million to reward public colleges and universities for each student they graduate, plus other criteria.
Two bills - one by Rep. Geanie Morrison, R-Victoria, and the other by Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano - call for that. To date, the money isn't there. The Senate has $75 million for college incentives on its wish list but not in the actual budget.
*Exit exams. Mr. Perry sought to require college students to take exit tests in their fields or majors, a kind of higher-ed TAKS. Students could flunk the exam and still graduate, but high scores would bring colleges some of that extra cash.
An exam provision was included in the Morrison and Shapiro bills but was dropped after faculty groups and others protested. Ms. Morrison's bill, scheduled to go before the House, now leaves the testing decision up to a state board.
*Financial aid. Mr. Perry wanted to spend $363 million more on financial aid and give students debit cards to pay tuition and fees (the money now flows through college financial aid offices).
The House and Senate also want more financial aid money, though not nearly as much. The debit card idea, part of another bill by Ms. Shapiro, would be studied but not actually carried out.
*Campus earmarks. Mr. Perry wanted to kill most money that colleges receive - some $300 million a year - for "special items" like museums and research centers. This raised the hackles of many lawmakers, who say those extra dollars keep colleges competitive. The House and Senate have seemingly thumbed their noses at Mr. Perry's notion because the proposed budgets retain those special items.
The plan lost traction partly because of the Texas Youth Commission scandal, the pending sale of TXU and other burning issues in Austin.
But there's also the sense that Mr. Perry tried to push too much, too late in the game on the higher-ed front. Sweeping changes need to be laid out and discussed over time, not sprung in the session.
Some critics have sounded the death knell.
"The result of his agenda will be an absolute, total, complete failure," said one adviser to Democratic legislators.
One particular action surely cost the governor some good will. In February, a Perry adviser e-mailed dozens of college leaders, saying "please formally endorse" the governor's proposals. It also said, "The Governor is not a fan of special items. Discussing them at length and requesting new ones ... has caused some concern."
Some people viewed that as a threat. "Neither college presidents nor members of the Legislature like being dictated to," the Democratic adviser said. "They sure as hell don't like [Perry's] staffers telling [them], 'Hey, if you want your money, you're going to say nice things about the plan.'"
That's not to say everything is lost. A Shapiro bill making headway would require colleges to post online report cards with details on costs, graduation rates and other facts. That's in the spirit of the governor's desire for more public information on college quality and performance.
Even if Mr. Perry doesn't get all the money he wanted for financial aid and other programs, any amount beats nothing. And asking for those dollars sends the message that higher education is important.
Mr. Perry's office hasn't given up.
"We're optimistic that key portions of the governor's higher education plan are moving forward and will reach his desk," Perry spokesman Ted Royer said. "At the end of the session, the governor feels like there will be pretty good progress made on many of these initiatives."
With just three weeks left in the session, those would likely be a few lasting ripples, not the big waves the governor's higher-ed plan created when the session started.