Act 188
Prior to Act 188 the 14 “state-owned” institutions of higher education were part of the executive branch of Pennsylvania State government, with the presidents reporting directly to the Secretary of Education, a political appointee and member of the Governor’s Cabinet. University presidents were also political appointees nominated by the Governor and confirmed by the State Senate.
Political control of these 14 institutions was so pervasive then that some sitting presidents would be called on Inauguration Day for a new governor and told to clear out their desks by the end of the day.
But with passage of Act 188, the thirteen former State Colleges became State Universities and, together with Indiana University, were melded into a new “system” of public universities that would eventually come to be known as the Pennsylvania State System of Higher education (PASSHE).
PASSHE today is the 14-University system of taxpayer-supported institutions of higher education that includes Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester Universities.
The Pennsylvania Promise
From the text of Act 188, we see that the statutory purpose—i.e., the purpose by law—of the 14 PASSHE Universities shall be “To provide high quality education at the lowest possible cost to the students.”
From the Merriam-Webster dictionary, when used in law the word ‘shall’ expresses what is mandatory.
Act
188 has been amended since its initial passage, but its statutory purpose has
not been changed.
Therefore
“The Pennsylvania Promise”
is
A Promise Freely-Given
By the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
To Current and Future Students of the 14 PASSHE
Universities
“The Pennsylvania Promise: High Quality Education
at the Lowest Possible Cost to the Students”
PASSHE is a Public Corporation
Act 188 created PASSHE as a ‘public corporation.’ That meant, among other things, that the presidents would, for the first time, no longer be political appointees. Rather, they would be selected through national searches and report to a Chancellor who would also be selected by means of a national search.
Although no longer political appointees, the presidents would report to a chancellor who, in turn, would report to a Board of Governors consisting of five elected officials and fifteen political appointees.
It was thought that Act 188 would provide a sufficient buffer between the 14 universities and direct political control to allow the PASSHE universities and PASSHE students to thrive. In fairness, the law worked perfectly well for its first 19 years (1984-2002), but it has increasingly failed to work since 2002.²
But that failure did not occur because the law was changed—it wasn’t—but rather because the Board of Governors since 2002, with its slowly evolving membership over time, has decided not to deliver the Act 188 statutory purpose of the PASSHE universities: “High quality education at the lowest possible cost to the students.” Instead, the Board of Governors since 2002 has adopted a policy to maintain the lowest possible tuition (i.e., sticker price) rather than the lowest possible cost to the students (i.e., bottom line).
A Misguided Focus on Low Tuition Rather than Lowest
Possible Cost to the Students
This failure by the BOG to follow the law as written—when combined with the steady 30-year decline in State funding—has essentially starved the PASSHE system of universities of the funds needed to deliver PASSHE’s Act 188 statutory purpose, largely accounting for the BOG’s failure to deliver that purpose.
In simple terms Act 188 says—when it comes to funding—that: 1) the Governor and the Legislature get to decide how much State support the Commonwealth can afford to provide to PASSHE in any given year; and 2) The Board of Governors then gets to decide how high the tuition rates must be set in order “To do and perform generally all of those things necessary and required to accomplish the role and objectives of the System,” as the BOG is legally required to do by Section 20-2006-A(a)(15) of Act 188. And, presumably, accomplishing the Act 188 statutory purpose of the PASSHE universities: To provide “high quality education at the lowest possible cost to the students,” would be one of the first “things necessary and required to accomplish the role and objectives of the System.”
Although
the Board of Governors has the legal authority, from Section 20-2006-A(a)(11)
of Act 188, “To fix the levels of tuition fees,” and despite the fact that the
law does not require or even mention any role for the Governor in the tuition-setting process,
the Board of Governors has for at least the past 20 years anxiously
awaited—together with the 14 PASSHE university presidents, I included—the
Governor’s word as to the maximum allowable tuition rate increase for that
year!
Why would 20 different Boards of Governors with slightly
varying membership defer every year for at least 20 years to five different
governors, both Democrat and Republican—when it came to one of their most important
sworn duties—to set tuition rates in such a way as to provide “high quality
education at the lowest possible cost to the students?” Why would they let the Governor decide that,
when Act 188 gives that responsibility not to the Governor, but to the Board of
Governors?
While the reason must clearly be political—since it always involves the Governor—it is just as
clearly not partisan—since it
involved governors from both parties serving roughly equal time in office in
the 20-year period between 1992 and 2012.
To be continued next week. ² http://www.amazon.com/Privatization-Without-Plan-Leadership-Pennsylvania/dp/1491295244/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408368767&sr=8-1&keywords=angelo+armenti.
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