Editorial
Contracting for quality in higher education

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Higher-education officials have been chafing at the restraints of flagging state financial support, more demand for services and the desire to maintain the quality of programs.

That's why the Legislature should approve companion measures in the House and Senate that would authorize an experiment that might help institutions be more flexible while still requiring accountability to state officials.

Requested by Gov. Gary Locke, the measures would authorize the governor and some higher-education institutions to experiment with negotiating performance contracts of up to six years. The pilot project would include a research university and a state regional university and two community colleges.

Details are necessarily sketchy at this point, but the contracts would be ready for legislative consideration by Jan. 1. The institutions might agree to a series of performance requirements, such as graduating a certain number of students, in return for their state money. Or the governor and Legislature might agree the institutions can raise tuition if the Legislature doesn't appropriate enough money.

Already, universities have some limited performance contracts, such as those that appropriate money specifically to support education of people in high-demand areas, such as information technology. The legislation would permit contracts that cover all of the state's appropriation to the institution.

Officials at the University of Washington, who hope to participate in the pilot project, say a performance contract of up to six years will help them do some long-term planning they can't do on the current, two-year budget cycle. The six-year term is comparable to how the Department of Transportation plans its projects.

Presumably, university and state officials negotiating the contract would acknowledge the importance of a well-rounded education and not sacrifice those lower-demand disciplines, such as the liberal arts, for the high-demand sciences. That should be a value of both sides.

The approach is intriguing, particularly in light of the crisis of less money but more demand confronting higher education. It has the support of business groups, including the Washington Roundtable, which see promise in terms of the flexibility and planning it will permit.

Performance contracts in higher education is an idea worth trying.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company