The Kentucky Senate voted unanimously Thursday to modifications in performance funding for the state’s public universities. Bill Sponsor David Givens said all university presidents and the State Council for Postsecondary Education have signed off on the changes.
Givens added the new model includes even more incentive to see academic successes on campuses. “Any future funds flow into the performance pool. They don’t flow into the base of these institutions. They flow into the performance pool, are competed for by the institutions and the rewards go to those that are excelling and the motivation is there for all the others to try to gain faster so that they can gain some of those monies,” said Givens.
Givens says schools will continue to work toward improvements in areas like graduation rates, enrollment, and degree earnings. Louisville Senator Gerald Neal said he appreciates a new state funding floor, which he feels is fairer to regional schools. “It recognizes that they don’t have the girth that some schools like the University of Kentucky or the University of Louisville may have, but it gives them a really fair opportunity to achieve the objectives set in the bill as designed to do,” noted Neal.
Givens told fellow senators funding based on performance is another key element in the State Council for Postsecondary Education’s goal of seeing 60% of the Commonwealth’s population attain a degree by 2030.
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