Rob Horowitz: Merger of Education Boards is Another Big Mistake
Rob Horowitz, GoLocalProv MINDSETTER™
Rob Horowitz: Merger of Education Boards is Another Big Mistake
Thirty years ago, the General Assembly created the Board of Governors for Higher Education to highlight and address the needs of Rhode Island's state university and colleges. All that could be on the block, however, with an ill-advised proposal buried in the state budget to merge the Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education with the Board of Governors of Higher Education to create one,11-member State Board of Education.
The last-minute unveiling and its incorporation into the budget seem intentionally designed to ensure that the proposal will not receive the full debate and scrutiny it merits. Some observers believe that this is the General Assembly Leadership’s way of paying back the Board of Governors for bypassing the legislature and allowing qualified children of undocumented immigrants to receive in-state tuition. I hope that this is not the case, but the poor way this has been handled to date, only fuels this kind of speculation.
You would think after the 38 Studios debacle, the General Assembly would be more cautious about making important policy decisions in this manner. Unfortunately the rushing through of this ill-advised merger does not give one cause for optimism. As Gary Sasse, Director of the Bryant Institute for Public Leadership told the Providence Journal about the proposed merger, “This plan lacks transparency and detail and is an example of why people are cynical about the quality of leadership in Rhode Island and how decisions are made.”
If the concern is to provide better coordination between public k-12 education and the colleges, there are other alternatives. The Assembly could consider the Licht Report’s recommendation for a K-20 Advisory Committee to provide a structure for ongoing coordination.
The Board of Governors was created in 1982 because when Rhode Island had a single Board of Education it was dominated by the concerns of K-12 public education and the problems of the colleges received little attention. This is no reason to think the outcome would be any different this time.
The quality and affordability of Rhode Island's public colleges are critical to a successful economic future for our children and central to driving future economic growth for our state. As a result, a sustained and concentrated focus on our public colleges is required. Recklessly eliminating the Board of Governors threatens that focus.
Rob Horowitz is a strategic and communications consultant who provides general consulting, public relations, direct mail services and polling for national and state issue organizations, various non-profits and elected officials and candidates. He is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Rhode Island.