Inefficiency hurts higher ed., lawmakers say
Lawmakers say universities have to find better ways to deliver services.
Published Dec. 9, 2005
Several legislators have blamed inefficient university spending for potential cuts in funding.
In an interview earlier this week, Rep. Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, attributed a possible shortfall in higher education funding to rising costs and decreased efficiency in the way universities deliver their services.
Rep. Bob Johnson, R-Lee's Summit, said the UM system needs to turn its priorities toward students' needs.
"A majority of the faculty members with the University of Missouri system don't teach the same number of hours as their colleagues at other public institutions in Missouri," Johnson said.
Johnson said many faculty members spend more time on research than classroom teaching. He said he believes research takes away time that professors could be teaching more students.
"I realize that the prevailing view among faculty and the UM system is that they are all doing cutting-edge research," Johnson said. "I think that belief is folly, and the only ones that believe that are the faculty members and their relatives."
Rep. Ed Robb, R-Columbia, disagrees with Johnson's position on faculty research.
"I will admit that, at any university, not all research is cutting edge, but the vast majority of research done at the University of Missouri is cutting edge," Robb said.
However, Robb said he saw room for greater efficiency and cost cutting. He said technology could greatly cut the university's expenses.
Rep. Kevin Wilson, R-Neosho, said though there is room for improvement in higher education, the state's public universities have taken enough cuts.
"It's taken its fare share of cuts," Wilson said. "I think there's always room for improvement, but over the past couple of years the Missouri system has improved."
Two House democrats, Yaphett El-Amin, D-St. Louis, and Rep. Joe Aull, D-Marshall, contested that higher-education costs are not the primary cause of shortfalls in funding.
"What evidence do we have to base that higher education is inefficient?" El-Amin asked.
She said legislators who believed universities were inefficient were transferring the blame. She said that if public universities are costing Missouri citizens an inordinate amount of money, a committee should investigate the claim before decisions are made about funding.
Both Democrats also said that students and their families made up in tuition payments for legislators' unwillingness to raise taxes. He said in their efforts to cut taxes, legislators actually cost the citizens more money.
Nikki Krawitz, UM system vice president for finance and administration, cited several recent decisions that are helping the university save money, including debt consolidation and eliminating paperwork.
"We're in the process of refinancing the university's debt," Krawitz said. "It saves $800,000 directly to the bottom line of the health system."
Krawitz also said further debt consolidation could save the UM system up to $13 million throughout the next several years. Debt consolidation consists of combining loans to limit interest.
At last week's Board of Curators meeting in Kansas City, UM system President Elson Floyd asked the university's four chancellors to cut 10 percent of their administrative costs.