Among the proposals up for consideration in the Maine Legislature this year is a plan by Lewiston Democrat Peggy Rotundo to consolidate the boards of Maine's higher education systems into just one.
Supporters say the change would save money, and that there would be other benefits as well.
Rep. Rotundo says it is the third time in her long career as a lawmaker that she has sought to change the way Maine’s public colleges and universities are governed. Rotundo, who co-chairs the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee, says study after study has called for greater coordination among higher education providers in the state.
"My observation, having served on Appropriations for many years now," she says, "is that the two systems, with some exceptions, pretty much exist within silos."
Rotundo says with increasing costs of higher education and decreasing enrollments, it's time to look at both the colleges and universities as a unified system, rather than as competitors vying for for students and scarce state resources.
"This is much more than a cost savings," Rotundo says. "This is, how do we create the strongest higher education system that we can for Maine people?"
Sen. Brian Langley, a Republican from Ellsworth, co-chairs the Education Committee. He says past efforts to create a unified board for higher education met with mixed support, and he expects the same outcome for this proposal. And Langley says there are lessons that could be learned by looking at other states.
"California has just disbanded their board of higher education, and Connecticut has just enabled a board of higher education," Langley says, "so my role will be to find out why? What happened in all those situations? Maybe learn from other people’s mistakes."
Bangor Democrat Victoria Kornfield supports exploring the unified board proposal. She says it has failed in the past because of opposition from the community colleges, who were fearful that their mission would lose support under a unified board. She says the recent departure of the Community College System's long-time president could change the discussion.
"I think it would have been impossible to pass prior to this," Kornfield says. "But I think with John Fitzsimmons resigning, I think we have to look at it again."
Fitzsimmons resigned under pressure from Gov. Paul LePage, who said he was frustrated that Fitzsimmons has not worked well with the University system or with the governor's office. Kornfield believes the state can do a better job of coordinating higher education.
"Many of these campuses are a mile-and-a-half away from each other," she says. "They have duplication of administration and there is probably not the best use of buildings."
She says better administration could mean that more dollars could be devoted to educating students in a university degree program or those seeking a community college certificate. Ellsworth Republican Brian Langley says those are among the issues that the committee members will explore when they consider Rotundo’s bill.
"That argument has a tremendous amount of merit," Langley says. "Like I said, it is real timely. You know, you just have to do the investigative work to see that is actually true and your gut and common-sense meter says, 'Yeah, I believe that is true.' "
Once the bill is printed, the committee could schedule a public hearing as soon as next month.
