Senate committee hears cleanup changes to higher-education funding formula in SB 2034

The Senate Education Committee on Monday heard testimony on Senate Bill 2034, a bill that would adjust parts of the state's funding formula for institutions of higher education by clarifying how weighted student credits and institutional size factors are applied and by reclassifying two programs as career and technical education (CTE).

Representative Mark Sanford, who chairs the interim higher education committee, told the panel, "This bill is a bit of a cleanup bill, in terms of some, 2 pieces, 2 components of the funding model or the funding formula." He described the formula as a performance model that pays institutions on weighted credits multiplied by an institutional size factor, and said the bill would prevent growth from being penalized when an institution crosses a size threshold.

The bill addresses two specific situations. First, Sanford and supporting testimony said Dickinson State University has grown and, under the formula as written, could see all of its credits reweighted at a lower size factor when it crosses a threshold. Sanford said the change would preserve the…