Tiny measures won't fix overbuilt LA higher education

Welcome to the party, Louisiana policy-makers, decades late but maybe, finally, after over two decades of hammering you all over the head, you’ll actually do something productive about one of the great wastes in state government.

That would be our overbuilt higher education system, which this space relentlessly has advocated its pruning. And I do mean relentless: a quick search, which likely misses some instances, brought up over the past 21 years 73 different posts about how too many schools chasing too few students needlessly drives up costs to state taxpayers (here are the latest couple).

And, it now appears, policy-makers may have gotten this concept through their skulls. Some legislation has popped up for the Legislature’s regular session this year dealing with alignment of higher education administration and programs to match actual demand. As previously noted, some of it like paring programs is good, some of it like doing away with the Board of Regents is bad.

Big BC Council rancor erupts over small deal

In the recent past, the Bossier City Council has had tussles over spending hundreds of thousands of dollars frivolously, even millions and tens of millions unwisely, and knockdowns, drag-outs over majorities using every trick to subjugate minority councilor (even if extremely publicly popular) interests.  But now all that over $55,000 to manage a tricky situation?

This week, the Council dropped the guillotine on the Bossier Arts Council. Previously, it cued up BAC eviction from the old city hall that had served as its headquarters – rent and city utilities free – for 45 years for failure to follow state law regarding audits. It was in default three years running, despite a city warning months ago and fulfilling basically the same request for the federal government without controversy.

Presaging the weirdness to come, the 5-2 vote had joining the sole nay vote, of Democrat Councilor Debra Ross, from the first reading the ordinance’s instigator, Republican Councilor Brian Hammons. Then shortly thereafter came Ross’ ordinance to create a new city position, salaried at $55,000 annually, that effectively would oversee the arts, or what the BAC should do.

Polls, debate plea hint at Cassidy desperation

You’d be forgiven for getting a case of whiplash trying to follow the Republican nomination race for the U.S. Senate election this fall, with all of the unexpected twists and turns, the latest of these being polls at great odds with each other and an incumbent begging for a selective debate.

Earlier this month, GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy made demands of Republican Rep. Julia Letlow, who is challenging him, to square off against him, but only him, in a televised debate. To date, her response has been she’s busy with other commitments when he proposes to do it.

This runs against type for two reasons. First, Cassidy made no mention of inviting GOP Treas. John Fleming, another challenger who according to an independent poll last month leads the pack at 34 percent, up almost double-digits on Letlow and 15 points clear of Cassidy. Any debate organizer cannot leave out a major candidate like Fleming, unless he declined an invitation.

Backwards bill misses on higher education costs

A bill in the Louisiana Legislature to abolish the Board of Regents has it exactly backwards.

HB 391 by Republican state Rep. Dixon McMakin would amend the Constitution to do this, transferring current Board functions to other parts of state government, in a move described as cost-saving. McMakin called the Regents “duplicative” and that the agency didn’t “serve a positive impact on our students.”

He got it half-right: duplication is a big problem in the state’s overbuilt higher education system, with too many schools chasing too few students. And that’s reflected in the actual duplicative agencies whose functions need to be transferred to the Regents and themselves abolished: the four governance systems the Louisiana State University System, the University of Louisiana System, the Southern University System, and the Louisiana Community and Technical Colleges System, along with their supervisory boards.