House panel passes bill giving community college leaders control of aid formula

Legislation to shift the development of the state’s community college aid distribution formula to college leaders will move ahead after being passed out of a House subcommittee.

Senate File 2405, formerly Senate File 2373, would have presidents and chancellors from each of the state’s community colleges create the formula to distribute state dollars between them, with at least 10 out of the 15 leaders approving it by Oct. 31 each year in order for it to be implemented. If they can’t get a formula approved, the Department of Education would establish the formula instead.

The formula cannot less allocate funding to colleges than in previous years, according to the bill, unless the base funding amount has been reduced.

The majority of commenters spoke in favor of the bill, citing unanimous support from community college leaders. Community Colleges for Iowa Executive Director Emily Shields said the bill is a top priority for the organization, and the goal is to fix gaps that span from community colleges being funded at anywhere from 70% to 170% of what they should receive.

One college that is experiencing this gap is Iowa Central Community College, President Jesse Ulrich said. The college receives about $2,700 in funding per student compared to a neighboring community college that gets funded at $6,000 per student.

“What we’re looking to do is a more flexible and nimble system so that we can be responsive to enrollment and not end up in a situation with this big of a gap again,” Shields said.

Melissa Peterson, legislative and policy director for the Iowa State Education Association, brought up the concern that the bill would give a lot of responsibility and power to the group of presidents and chancellors, who would not be subject to open meeting laws. While she said information on the formula approval would be posted online, people might not get to know which colleges were against a certain formula if there were any dissenting opinions.

“I am not concerned with this current body, I think we have a very good working relationship,” she said. “I think it sets a precedent, and so if there’s … any caution to be exercised, that would be the issue I would raise.”

Lawmakers on the subcommittee agreed with the idea of making things more transparent, and moved the bill to the full House Appropriations Committee.

“I’ve spent a career with community colleges, and I’ve got to be honest, the whole time, 41 years I was with the community colleges, it’s odd that the community college funding formula was in the code of Iowa,” Rep. Gary Mohr, R-Bettendorf, said. “And so I think this is a huge step forward.”