HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 30

50th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2011

INTRODUCED BY

David C. Chavez

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE GOVERNOR TO CONVENE A WORK GROUP TO DEVELOP RECOMMENDATIONS ON REDESIGNING THE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM TO FOCUS ON TARGETED EXCELLENCE AT EACH PUBLIC POST-SECONDARY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION.

     WHEREAS, Article 12, Section 11 of the constitution of New Mexico specifies the state educational institutions, including the university of New Mexico, New Mexico institute of mining and technology, New Mexico state university, western New Mexico university, eastern New Mexico university and New Mexico highlands university; and

     WHEREAS, in addition to the universities and northern New Mexico college, there are branch community colleges and independent community colleges, for a total of twenty-four public post-secondary educational institutions offering higher education courses at more than sixty sites and offering similar degree programs in essentially the same location; and

     WHEREAS, over the last two decades, the state has made educational opportunity a funding priority through factors in the higher education funding formula and through several important financial aid packages; and

     WHEREAS, this policy of access to higher education was engendered by the need for an educated work force to compete with other states and countries in the global work force market and by the need for targeted professions, notably those in health-related fields, to work in underserved rural areas of the state; and

     WHEREAS, this commitment to access, however, has not improved graduation rates and, more importantly, has not met the needs of high-technology industries looking to relocate; and

     WHEREAS, in the prevailing fiscal climate, this priority of access over quality is no longer sustainable, and the current configuration of higher education must be changed; and

     WHEREAS, the current economic crisis offers the state an opportunity to redesign the higher education system by making it more streamlined and more responsive to the needs of the state, the work force, the taxpayers and the students; and

     WHEREAS, the budget shortfall brings into sharp focus the fact that the state can no longer afford the unbridled desire to be everything to everybody, and it cannot afford to have any public post-secondary educational institutions being, as the old saw goes, "jack of all trades, master of none"; and

     WHEREAS, a redesigned higher education system, with a renewed commitment to academic rigor and preeminence, as well as coordination of disciplines and degrees across institutional lines, can focus on building programmatic excellence, with both two- and four-year institutions specializing in the particular academic or work force areas at which they excel, rather than providing scattershot programs that do not serve the ultimate needs of students to be appropriately trained or the needs of taxpayers to receive value for their taxes;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that Governor Martinez be requested to convene a higher education work group to include the presidents of the six state universities; one former regent of each of the universities; one representative of the branch community colleges; one representative of the independent community colleges; and the secretaries of higher education, finance and administration and information technology; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the governor name the chair of the work group; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the work group:

          A. identify:

                (1) the academic and work force areas in which each public post-secondary educational institution excels and in which areas the institution should be focusing to foster preeminence; and

                (2) ways to coordinate disciplines and degrees across institutional lines to provide students with better and more focused degree programming that makes graduates competitive in the state, national and international work force market;

          B. consider the relationships between universities and their branch community colleges and consider the relationships between other two- and four-year institutions; and

          C. develop criteria for the higher education department and the department of finance and administration to evaluate:

                (1) the efficacy of each institution's mission, whether its academic and work force courses and degrees support that mission and whether the mission should be focused more narrowly on areas in which the institution excels;

                (2) the necessity and cost of duplicate degree or program offerings by multiple institutions, particularly in the same geographic area;

                (3) the need for and effectiveness of off-campus instruction at each institution and the need for alternatives to building brick-and-mortar campuses, such as distance learning or inter-institutional agreements;

                (2) the proliferation of branch campuses, in derogation of the 1998 laws limiting branch campuses, and the need to close or consolidate campuses and eliminate duplicative academic offerings;

                (3) administrative structures and finances at institutions, particularly in relation to their missions and academic affairs;

                (4) the strengths and weaknesses of each institution's academic programs and identify programs that should be eliminated or consolidated and degrees that should be discontinued or emphasized by another institution;

                (5) institutional efforts to recruit and retain highly qualified faculty in the academic or work force areas in which the institution has or can develop preeminence; and

                (6) other factors that the work group identifies for evaluation;

          D. consider New Mexico's changing demographics and institutional statistics, including:

                (1) current and projected enrollment, including enrollment for each institution, campus, degree or certificate program of the institution;

                (2) graduation rates per institution, campus, degree or certificate program and length of time to graduation;

                (3) graduation rates for recipients of lottery tuition scholarships, college affordability scholarships, loan for service programs and other state financial aid;

                (4) the assigned or natural geographic area of responsibility for each institution; and

                (5) work force development needs by economic and geographic sectors; and

          E. study the higher education funding formula and the factors that need to be changed to encourage excellence instead of proliferation and preeminence instead of mediocrity; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the work group make recommendations to the governor by November 1, 2011 on a new design for post-secondary education in New Mexico that is based on academic excellence and the preparation of graduates who can meet the challenges of the twenty-first century; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the recommendations include a list of duplicate academic programs and branch campuses that should be closed or consolidated, with an emphasis on those programs and campuses duplicated in the same geographic area; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the work group recommend the process and timing to be followed for closure or consolidation of campuses and programs; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the governor make recommendations, including statutory changes, to the second session of the fiftieth legislature by January 1, 2012 on the redesign of the higher education system and on a new higher education funding formula, including the identity of campuses recommended for closure or consolidation and the elimination of unnecessary duplicate degrees; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the governor; the secretaries of higher education, finance and administration and information technology; and New Mexico's six university presidents.

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