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collegeboard The idea of dumping the current system of governing higher education and going to a single board passed its first test Tuesday.The House Education Committee voted 10-4 to approve HB391 over the objections of current higher education administrators who argued that such a major change in governance should be subject to considerable study.Speaker of the House Jim Tucker, lead author of the constitutional amendment, said amending the state constitution to get rid of the policymaking Board of Regents and the management boards for the LSU,



Southern University, University of Louisiana systems and the state's community and technical colleges and create a single Board of Trustees would lead to more efficient management of the campuses."We'd get a greater coordinated effort of achieving our goal" of increasing graduation and retention rates and lowering the number of college dropouts, Tucker said.Opponents of the proposal said that's what the GRAD Act adopted last year is supposed to do.They said it has only been in effect six months, so it's too early to say it's not working.


They also pointed out that some out-of-state experts who served on a higher education study panel recommended against consolidating governance.Kristy Nichols, Gov. Bobby Jindal's deputy chief of staff, said lawmakers should ask, "Is the system achieving what it is intended to achieve?" which she said is serving students well. "I believe it is not operating as efficiently as it could."Nichols said the key changes in the proposed amendment are that it would transfer all of the powers of the management boards and Board of Regents to the new board and give it funding authority over all institutions of higher education.

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