Plan Would Send Tax Money to Students

By Tim Hoover, The Kansas City Star, Mo.

Dec. 12–JEFFERSON CITY — A top Republican lawmaker is proposing a plan to distribute taxpayer dollars for higher education to individual students, who then could use the money for public or private universities.

Rep. Carl Bearden, speaker pro tem of the House and a St. Charles Republican, says his idea, which some call “higher education vouchers,” is nothing new to Missouri. The state already passes tax dollars on to private colleges and universities through the awarding of scholarships and grants, he noted.

Bearden’s proposal, though, would take a portion of the state’s basic appropriations for higher education, which exclude building projects, and divide that up among individual students.

“It’s trying to change the focus of higher education from institutions to students,” Bearden said of his plan, which he first rolled out last session.

Bearden’s bill last session was voted out of committee but never made it to the full House. However, as head of the House Interim Committee on Student-Based Higher Education Funding Reform Models, Bearden has taken testimony on the idea, and his panel is expected to submit a report before the end of the year.

Appropriations for colleges and universities this year were $851 million compared with $967 million in 2002.

Bearden’s proposal says that when and if state appropriations for colleges and universities reach the 2002 level again, any appropriations over that would be distributed to individual students. He said it might take as long as five years to reach the 2002 level of funding.

Bearden’s proposal last session used full-time enrollment figures at colleges to divide the money on a per student basis. But universities objected because that method didn’t account for varying costs to educate students at different schools. As a result, Bearden plans to revise his proposal so that funds are distributed similar to a scholarship, perhaps based on grades or need.

Public universities, though, still have many concerns.

“I believe it will take taxpayer money that has been going to public institutions and divert some of that money into private institutions,” said Barbara Dixon, president of Truman State University and head of the Council on Public Higher Education, which represents Missouri’s public universities and colleges.

A similar program is under way in Colorado, where students this year for the first time are being given vouchers for public or private universities. The plan only awards the full amount available under the program — $2,400 — to students attending public universities. However, part of the reason for enacting vouchers in Colorado was so public universities could get around that state’s Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights law, which limits spending, tax increases and tuition increases.

By having the money follow students instead of institutions, public universities could show their state support had fallen drastically, and thus they were free to increase tuition.

The verdict is still out on the Colorado voucher plan. The National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education at Columbia University issued a report that said the plan could potentially price low-income students out of a public university, increase costs to the state and result in loss of some services for university students.

On the other hand, the report noted, the vouchers could make colleges more efficient by having to compete for students, and it could increase the number of private universities.

The idea of higher education vouchers has support among private colleges in Missouri.

“This is something I’ve been pushing for the last four years,” said Pat Taylor, president of Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar. “I feel like we’ve been a voice in the wilderness, and with Carl Bearden’s committee, we at least have an audience.”

Students in Missouri should be free to attend a college of their choice, he said, and the state should be helping them.

Bearden and other supporters point out private colleges already benefit from a variety of taxpayer-funded scholarships. Most of the $16.6 million in the state’s Charles E. Gallagher Grant Program, which awards grants of up to $1,500 based on need, goes to students who attend private universities.

The voucher plan is different, though, critics assert.

“These are not scholarships,” Dixon said of Bearden’s plan. “We’re talking about replacing appropriations to the institutions with money to students.

“Religious schools don’t normally get appropriated taxpayer money. This would conceivably mean they would get state money.”

House Minority Leader Jeff Harris, a Columbia Democrat, also was critical of Bearden’s plan.

“It’s just another way to take public tax dollars and send them to private colleges and universities,” Harris said. “This is a much more substantial change to the way we fund higher education than the scholarship programs we already have in existence.”

Republicans still are sorting through the proposal.

Jessica Robinson, a spokeswoman for Republican Gov. Matt Blunt, said the governor is reviewing Bearden’s proposal and has no position yet.

Senate Majority Leader Charlie Shields, a St. Joseph Republican, welcomed scrutiny of higher education funding but had questions about Bearden’s proposal.

“It’s probably time we take a realistic look at how we fund our colleges and universities,” Shields said. “I certainly would be suspicious of any attempt to shift our current level of funding over to private institutions.”

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