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JBC plan for higher ed wrong, unrealistic, shortsighted
Sean Reed
Issue date: 4/6/09 Section: Opinion
Things just keep getting worse for higher education in Colorado.
In case you didn't get the memo, last week the Joint Budget Committee of the Colorado legislature unanimously approved a proposal to cut $300 million from the roughly $600 million in discretionary funds allocated to fund our already-starving higher education institutions.
In addition, the JBC suggested loosening the grip of the legislature on tuition rates by increasing the spending authority of higher ed from 6.5 percent to 9 percent,. However, they also stated that should institutions desire to increase beyond this threshold, they would still be allowed but would be on their own if increases put the institutions in jeopardy.
To make the move more politically feasible, the JBC pitched a pie-in-the-sky plan to soften the blow by dipping into a $700 million surplus in workers' compensation funds. Under this plan, the net effect on dollars going to higher ed would be zero, despite the 50 percent cut in official discretionary funds.
Of course, there's one major problem with this otherwise brilliant plan: The entity that holds the funds -- Pinnacol Assurance -- is not too amenable to having their coffers raided by the state to fuel universities and community colleges, according to the Denver Post.
The question of the day is whether Pinnacol, an organization created in 1915 as a state agency that has slowly evolved into a mostly independent quasi-government agency, really has much say in the matter.
Pinnacol's Corporation Board has strongly asserted that they do. And unfortunately for higher ed, it looks like they're right.
According to the Colorado Workers Compensation Act of 2007, the state has absolutely "no claim to or interest in" the funds in the Pinnacol Assurance fund, and, as such, "shall not borrow, appropriate, or direct payments from such revenues, moneys or assets for any purpose."
Of course, there is always the option to change the law, and Senate Majority Leader Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont, is pursuing this option.
In case you didn't get the memo, last week the Joint Budget Committee of the Colorado legislature unanimously approved a proposal to cut $300 million from the roughly $600 million in discretionary funds allocated to fund our already-starving higher education institutions.
In addition, the JBC suggested loosening the grip of the legislature on tuition rates by increasing the spending authority of higher ed from 6.5 percent to 9 percent,. However, they also stated that should institutions desire to increase beyond this threshold, they would still be allowed but would be on their own if increases put the institutions in jeopardy.
To make the move more politically feasible, the JBC pitched a pie-in-the-sky plan to soften the blow by dipping into a $700 million surplus in workers' compensation funds. Under this plan, the net effect on dollars going to higher ed would be zero, despite the 50 percent cut in official discretionary funds.
Of course, there's one major problem with this otherwise brilliant plan: The entity that holds the funds -- Pinnacol Assurance -- is not too amenable to having their coffers raided by the state to fuel universities and community colleges, according to the Denver Post.
The question of the day is whether Pinnacol, an organization created in 1915 as a state agency that has slowly evolved into a mostly independent quasi-government agency, really has much say in the matter.
Pinnacol's Corporation Board has strongly asserted that they do. And unfortunately for higher ed, it looks like they're right.
According to the Colorado Workers Compensation Act of 2007, the state has absolutely "no claim to or interest in" the funds in the Pinnacol Assurance fund, and, as such, "shall not borrow, appropriate, or direct payments from such revenues, moneys or assets for any purpose."
Of course, there is always the option to change the law, and Senate Majority Leader Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont, is pursuing this option.
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