College enterprise status could tackle TABOR woes
Facing significant reductions in state funding, public
universities across Colorado are scrambling to find new ways to
support higher education.
Lawmakers and university officials have proposed a plan to
designate public higher education as an enterprise. This
designation would free universities from state limits on revenue
and spending. If less than 10 percent of any state entity’s budget
derives from state general funds it is eligible for enterprise
status, which gives it more freedom to set fees and control
services.
Enterprise status for state agencies is a designation under
TABOR, the Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights, passed in 1992.
TABOR sets strict limits on how much a state agency can spend
and collect, said Joan Ringel, spokesperson for the Colorado
Commission on Higher Education. Colorado’s public universities are
considered state agencies, so the Colorado General Assembly must
approve their budgets, including tuition increases. Public
universities that are designated enterprises would have more
freedom to set their own tuition rates and spending levels, Ringel
said.
The University of Colorado-Boulder attempted to get enterprise
status in last year’s legislative session. CU’s bid was passed by
the Colorado General Assembly but was vetoed by Gov. Bill Owens,
who said that such a system needed to encompass all of Colorado’s
higher education, not just its largest university, according to a
Denver Post article Thursday.
“The devil is in the details when it comes to this type of
thing,” said Sen. Peggy Reeves, a Democrat whose constituency
includes Fort Collins. “With enterprise status, universities get
new flexibility and less regulation, but we need to look at how
much flexibility is allowed.”
Reeves said that the state must maintain control over tuition
rates as well as other issues integral to higher education.
Some state agencies that are designated enterprises have total
freedom from state oversight. This is not the goal for a university
enterprise designation, Ringel said. Instead legislators,
university officials and the CCHE would work together to define an
enterprise system that maintained state oversight over tuition,
enrollment and other important issues, she said.
“I don’t know that it’s the right answer,” Reeves said. “We’re
taking a look at where higher education is going in the next five
to 10 years. This is just one option on the table.”
Once a university is designated an enterprise its state general
fund contributions could not increase above 10 percent, Reeves
said.
“The university is always looking for options to provide relief
from TABOR,” said Gerry Bomotti, vice-president of administration
services at CSU. “These are very important issues to look at.”
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