Panel endorses change to Arkansas higher education funding

     (AP) – An Arkansas House panel has endorsed a plan to link

public college and university funding to performance goals such as the number of

students who complete their degrees.

     The House Education Committee on Tuesday advanced legislation requiring the

state to adopt a “performance-based” model for funding higher education rather

than basing the money on enrollment. Gov. Asa Hutchinson has said he’ll call for

increasing higher education funding $10 million in 2018 if lawmakers approve the

plan.

     The state’s colleges and universities received about $733 million in the

state’s current $5.3 billion budget, and that funding would not change in the

fiscal year that begins July 1 under the governor’s proposed budget.

     The bill now heads to the House for a vote.

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