Appropriations committee debates higher-education funding formula, chair calls averaging 'wrong'

Chair Sorvaugh, chair of the Appropriations - Education and Environment Division, opened a committee session focused on how the higher‑education funding formula operates and how recent changes shifted money between campuses.

The panel heard a technical overview from Alex Kronquist, fiscal analyst with the Legislative Council, who summarized how the formula calculates campus funding from weighted student credit hours, a campus-specific credit completion factor and a per‑credit base rate. Kronquist explained the law enacting the formula dates to 2013 and described a series of legislative adjustments that have changed weights and protections over time.

Nut graf: The central question before the committee is how to keep a performance‑based formula that rewards campus decisions without allowing policy choices elsewhere to change an institution’s base unexpectedly. Committee members focused on an averaging step used in recent biennia…