EDITORIAL: Performance funding the best choice?
According to a report published in the Detroit Free Press, Gov. Rick Snyder said a portion of state aid for 15 public universities in Michigan could now rely on new requirements.
Snyder said funding for universities next year could likely be based on how well the schools achieve specific performance standards such as graduation rates or specialized degrees awarded.
The details of how to best implement these standards are being studied in Lansing this year.
Michigan is not alone in this possible change — 17 other states are implementing or studying performance funding.
The biggest concern with materializing this plan is being able to concisely establish exactly what information receiving funding would be based on.
One of the goals of receiving funding based on levels of performance is to push universities to graduate more students which will, according to the article, create more skilled employees to drive the state economy.
Snyder wants to use goals that can be measured year-to-year to help determine where next year’s $1.2 billion in university funding in Michigan will go.
Simply looking at the number of graduates each Michigan university produces is a good place to start, but is has a realistic potential of altering education in one of two ways.
First, professors could take the initiative to push students to work harder, but the question of how exactly to do that still exists. Pushing students to excel is an already-established principle in the teaching world, so one would assume they are extending their teaching capabilities as much as possible already.
It seems the more likely outcome would be Central Michigan University lowering its standards and make classes easier to achieve a higher number of graduates each year, to therefore increase the funding we receive.
Another standard funding could be based on is the number of specialized degrees awarded to students. How well students are performing and how many are graduating is more important than the specific field of study they are pursuing. It’s common knowledge that different Michigan universities specialize in distinctive fields, so why favor one over another — it would become clear where the funding would go.
This may be a step in the right direction to determine how universities will be supported, especially after lawmakers cut 15 percent in state aid this year from each state university’s budget. But, the cost this could have on universities lowering their standards just to make out with some funding would most likely have an overall negative effect.
Now it’s just a game of waiting until a firm plan is announced. Hopefully shuffling graduates out the door to increase funding does not overshadow making sure graduates are properly educated before they are released into the workforce.
