It certainly appears that UL System President Randy Moffett, 65, has had enough. In the past four years of the Jindal administration — the time frame in which Moffett has been president of the system — higher ed institutions have been hit with a 41.7 percent reduction in state appropriations, their budgets slashed a total of $615.3 million, according to numbers released in early July by the Louisiana Democratic Party.
Moffett, however, did not sit quietly. Less than a month ago he asked the state’s higher education board to scrap its method for distributing money to colleges and make it more equitable in light of the cuts.
Moffett said in a press release that the current performance-based formula used by the Board of Regents, designed when state funding for higher education was increasing, was intended as a way to create incentives for campuses to improve their performance. He said it wasn’t intended to strip funding from schools. “Given the current dire financial circumstances in higher education following four years of budget cuts,” Moffett wrote, “it is time to revisit how monies are allocated throughout public higher education to ensure that all institutions are treated fairly.”
“We have always supported performance and the concept of a performance funding formula, but the formula was not designed to distribute diminishing resources. Instead of rewarding performance like the GRAD Act that provides for tuition increases when measures are met, the formula shifts state funding from one institution to another," Moffett continued. "This is compounded when state monies for higher education are dedicated to specific institutions or purposes, as this reduces the funding available to all campuses. Given the financial crisis facing higher education in Louisiana, a temporary suspension of the formula would allow limited resources to be allocated in a fairer manner.”
According to Moffett, limitations of the formula include its failure to recognize differences in role, scope, and mission; failure to recognize that smaller institutions are more at risk; and failure to recognize disparate tuition rates relative to peer institutions. Read more on the impact of the current formula on universities here.
Right after Moffett made his remarks, the AP reported that Commissioner of Higher Education Jim Purcell, head of the Board of Regents, showed no interest in the suggestion to suspend use of the performance-based system.
On Monday, after more than 40 years in higher education — including the four years as president of the UL System and seven years as president of Southeastern Louisiana University — Moffett announced that he will retire in early fall.
“It has been a privilege to serve the people of Louisiana and higher education. Over the course of my career I have had opportunities to take positions out of this state, but my heart has always kept me in Louisiana. While I will miss working with a tremendous board, tenacious university presidents, and talented staff, I am looking forward to spending more time with my family,” he said in a press release announcing his retirement.
“Dr. Randy Moffett is one of the most esteemed leaders I know who provided great leadership during some very challenging times for higher education. A hard worker with a remarkable career, Randy earned the respect of every single member of the board,” UL System Board Chair Wayne Parker said in the announcement. “While I am certainly happy for him and wish him the best in retirement, his absence will be felt.”
Parker plans to call a meeting of the board’s executive committee to discuss next steps for finding Moffett’s successor. “We will move as quickly as possible to get the process started,” Parker added, noting the Moffett has been asked to assist in the search.
A native of Jonesboro, Moffett became the seventh UL System president in July 2008. During his first year at the helm, the UL System completed a comprehensive economic and community impact study, partnered with the Louisiana Department of Education to establish mentoring programs at all universities, and established a cost containment and efficiencies committee to streamline operations.
According to the system office, Moffett guided the search and selection of five university presidents, shepherded the movement of the UNO into the UL System, and guided the system’s universities through a series of budget reductions while improving operational efficiency, accountability and performance. Under his leadership, the UL System increased admission standards, enhanced access to community college students, expanded online degree offerings, implemented a 120-hour degree standard, increased retention rates, reduced time to degree, increased the number of degrees awarded, and raised graduation rates.
Before becoming president of Southeastern in Hammond, one of the nine universities that make up the UL System, Moffett worked at Southeastern in various staff, faculty and administrative positions for more than 25 years. He oversaw its transition from an open-admissions institution to one that embraced admission standards ahead of the state’s time schedule. In spite of this move, the university maintained a strong enrollment of approximately 15,000 students, making it the third largest university in the state.
Moffett began his career as a high school classroom teacher in the Jackson Parish School System and worked at Northwestern State University as both director of high school relations and assistant director of external affairs.
Moffett’s wife, Dr. Barbara Moffett, retired earlier this year from Southeastern, where she served as head of the department of nursing. They have three children and five grandchildren.
MAY 17 Here's a column from James Gill, this time in the Advocate. Gill, who has jumped ship from the Picayune, writes about the absurdity of dueling polls in this post. The numbers are so wildly different, it is obvious that both sides are "cooking the books," he writes. In particular, he looks at Sen. Mary Landrieu, and how her recent actions in DC have been received by those polled. Gill's acerbic, amusing prose is a welcome addition to a paper so conservative as to be occasionally lacking in personality.
MAY 17 Blogger Tom Aswell continues delivering bombshells about the state education department and Gov. Jindal's education "reform" efforts. In this post, he reports that students in the Shreveport area have been signed up for a charter school without their knowledge or consent. Most interesting to Aswell is how this Texas-based charter (with ties to GOP types) got the personal student information it has, if the students didn't give it.
MAY 17 This post by JR Ball in the Baton Rouge Business Report is an interesting tongue-in-cheek look at recent Baton Rouge economic development efforts. Among the items he examines is the idea that gaining a Costco makes BR a "world-class city." (Really? All you need is a different brand of Sam's? MK!) This effort, and other recent ones, are all built on the taxpayer's back, with tax zones, tax incentives and tax rebates, Ball writes.
MAY 17 Blogger CB Forgotston is critical of the legislature's reliance on a revenue-estimating committee's decision to include projected tax amnesty income in this year's forecast. That's a problem, CB posts, because the deadline for these people to pay their taxes is June 30, 2014. So when do you think these people who haven't paid taxes in years are going to pay their taxes? Surely not before June 30, and that means the money won't be there for this year's budget, he argues.
MAY 17 Here's an interesting blog out of California by a Hollywood writer, attorney and academic named Brian Alan Lane. He blogs about higher ed, and was a whistle-blower in a scandal over false credentials. In this post, he takes aim at LSU's new top dog, King Alexander. It's convoluted and a little confusing, but it sure makes Alexander a lot more interesting than he was yesterday.
MAY 17 Blogger Robert Mann writes about the LSU Board's refusal to allow Dr. Fred Cerise to testify before the legislature about Gov. Jindal's plan to close down all the state's charity hospitals and dump the poor on the private system. It's hard to imagine anyone more qualified than Cerise to testify about that, so why would anyone try to prevent him doing so? Mann thinks it is because the powers that be aren't interested in hearing any truth about the plan.
MAY 17 This post on the Louisiana Sinkhole Bugle, a blog that notes developments in the Bayou Corne and Jefferson Island salt domes, talks about a proposed expansion of the salt dome storage under Lake Peigneur in Iberia Parish. Residents are working against it for several reasons, including two biggies: the sinkhole disaster in Bayou Corne and the continuing, unexplained bubbling on the surface of the Lake.
MAY 17 NOLA police arrested more people Thursday accused of either being involved in the Mother's Day shooting or hiding the suspect afterward, this Gambit story reports. The NOLA police chief said he suspects the whole thing was gang-related and throws out a challenge to the gangs: he's got informants now, he says, and he knows a lot more than the gangs want him to know. The people who live in the neighborhoods terrorized by gangs are ready to talk, he says.
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