Regents will form working group to tackle performance-based budgeting

Higher education officials say they hope a directive from legislative leaders to develop a plan to base some appropriations on specific performance will result in more funding.

“This should relate to new dollars,” Kansas State University President Kirk Schulz said.

Kansas Board of Regents President and Chief Executive Officer Andy Tompkins said he hoped performance-based budgeting would allow post-secondary institutions to “earn your way into something better than you had in the past.”

Last week the regents approved forming a working group that would recommend a performance-based budgeting model that would be forwarded to the Legislature in time for the start of the 2015 legislative session in January.

Under performance-based budgeting, a certain amount of funding is tied to the attainment of specific goals. Proponents say the key is for policyholders to agree on what goals to set, how to measure performance and the amount of funding involved.

Some higher education officials have voiced skepticism about the idea, saying performance-based budgeting has produced difficulties in other states, and they feared it could be used to cut their budgets after years of cuts and flat funding.

Tompkins said legislative leaders want this and so it is up to higher education officials to produce a plan.

Kansas University Provost Jeff Vitter said the schools “want to improve and be held accountable.”

Several regents members said the performance-based budgeting should be used as an incentive to get additional funding or to provide matching funds.

The working group will include a research university president/chancellor, comprehensive university president, two community college presidents, a technical college president, the Washburn University president, and one regents staff member.