TOPEKA ? A task force Thursday said that the Kansas Board of Regents – not the state Legislature – should set admission standards for state universities, and that could lead to tougher standards.

Currently in Kansas, students may be admitted to a regents university if they have graduated from an accredited high school and have either an ACT score of 21, rank in the top third of their high school class or earn at least a 2.0 grade-point average on a prescribed curriculum. Those requirements were embedded in state law by the Legislature in 1996.

But State University Admissions Task Force members said it made better sense for the regents to have the authority to adjust admission policies to changing circumstances.

“The governing body of those institutions ought to have some say,” said task force member Andy Tompkins, who is a former state education commissioner.

While the recommendation was approved 12-0, some task force members acknowledged there would be considerable opposition from the Legislature.

“From a practical standpoint, you’ll never get it,” said Tim Emert, a former state Senate majority leader. He said lawmakers are protective of the broad admission policy currently in place, and their authority in setting that standard.

KU has been pushing for a change in admission standards, saying the current ones are too lenient and outdated.

In a paper provided by KU, the university said it is required to admit students who “we know will likely fail.” KU’s first-year retention level is 82 percent compared with a median of 90 percent for 45 comparable public universities.

The school said the standards are causing “bright flight,” where some students leave Kansas for the “cachet” of schools with tougher admission standards even though those institutions may not be any better than KU.

Also the system allows Kansas high school students to coast their senior years because they have met the minimum standards for college admission during their junior year. Then when they start college, they are not prepared for the rigors of tougher classes.

The task force contacted other states to see whether their admissions requirements for public colleges were codified in state statute. Of the 34 states that responded, only two – Florida and Colorado – had admissions standards set by state law, and those were simply minimum requirements that could be set higher by the individual institutions.

Task force member David Brant said the current policy “is holding back higher education in Kansas.”

The recommendation will now go to the Board of Regents, which will decide whether to ask the Legislature to change the law.

State Rep. Paul Davis, D-Lawrence, said he supported the recommendation.

“This is an area where the Legislature doesn’t have the expertise that the regents do,” he said.

Davis said the Legislature should give the authority for setting admissions standards to the regents, and if lawmakers ever believe the standards have become too difficult “then the Legislature could decide to step back in.”

Emert advised regents members, if they decide to pursue the recommendation, to personally lobby lawmakers, rather than just send the staff over to the Capitol to push for the change. He said a personal appeal from the regents would carry more weight with legislators.