A proposal to change how higher education is governed is advancing through the Legislature, although some worry the measure could undermine the role of Utah’s higher-ed commissioner.
SB39, sponsored by Sen. Stuart Reid, R-Ogden, would empower the governor and Senate to approve Board of Regents’ choice for commissioner of higher education — and allow the governor to fire the commissioner.
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SB39 » Would empower the governor and Senate to approve Board of Regents’ choice of commissioner of higher education — and allow the governor to fire the commissioner.
HB284 » Would disperse governing authority from Regents to the schools themselves
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Reid claims the measure is needed because higher education has failed to operate in concert with the K-12 system. Governor oversight over the commissioner is intended to promote greater coordination among Utah’s "silos of education," Reid told the House Education Committee Tuesday.
"We do it with judges and agency heads, so it is not an unusual thing," he said.
The committee, by a 7-6 vote, advanced his bill, which also applies to the hiring and firing of the president of the Utah College of Applied Technology, the system of vocational schools overseen by its own board.
But Reid’s bill, which already cleared the Senate by a wide margin, is tame compared to measures in another bill that has yet to be heard.
Under a system in place for the past 40 years, the governor nominates and the Senate confirms the 15 voting Regents, who oversee the state’s system of eight public colleges and universities. Rep. John Dougall’s HB284 would disperse governing authority from Regents to the schools themselves. School trustees would get to hire presidents, approve programs, set their institutional missions and pursue other prerogatives currently reserved for Regents.
The bill would allow the governor to appoint only the Regents’ chairman, with each institution naming one of its trustees to a reconstituted nine-member Board of Regents.
Regents’ spokesman David Buhler would not comment on that bill, nor have the Regents taken a formal position on Reid’s SB39. But Buhler has said that allowing the governor to fire commissioners of higher education could subject that post to undue political pressures.
"For the commissioner to be effective, he or she needs to have standing among presidents and the academic community. The intent was to provide some insulation from the spoils system of politics," Buhler told a Senate committee last week.
He questioned the need for such a measure since Regents owe their appointments to the governor.
"We see ourselves as part of the executive branch and try to be cooperative," Buhler said. In response to Buhler’s concerns, Reid made minor word changes to his bill to require the governor to consult Regents prior to firing a commissioner.
"There doesn’t have to be agreement with the board [of Regents]. It just has to be after consultation with the board," Reid said. "It is not something done willy-nilly. We’re not taking any authority away from the Board of Regents."
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