The Atlanta Journal-Constitution asked educators, policymakers and advocates to share what they deem the most important priorities for the upcoming 2025 General Assembly. Their answers are included in a collection of guest columns. This is the latest of these columns.
Lawmakers fighting the culture wars have a bad reputation for crafting legislation that is a solution in search of a problem. Georgia has seen its fair share of that in recent years. The best example is the 2022 “divisive concepts” law.
While the law doesn’t apply to higher education writ large, it has harmed teacher training.
Such legislation has largely stuck to primary and secondary education. I think that is because of the constitutional independence of our university system. Seven-year terms for our Board of Regents and their appointment by the governor are supposed to provide a buffer from political interference and partisan domination.
But as legislators keep rallying their “base” through lawmaking, members of the Board of Regents seemingly have felt the need to get ahead of — or is it to get in line with — lawmakers. We see this with the board erasing diversity as a priority across campuses. It did the same in November with banning “political tests” in admissions, as if that were a problem.
Credit: Peggy Cozart
Credit: Peggy Cozart
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is asking stakeholders like me to propose a new law or policy that lawmakers might consider in its upcoming term.
Last year I asked lawmakers to defend higher education during what would become a tumultuous election season. This year I think they should practice the adage “first do no harm.” In other words: do nothing.
Don’t file any bill to propose any change to the university system. Don’t give another second to studying if the system should switch back to a quarter system. Don’t fret the relationship between the system and the technical colleges. Don’t question the role of faculty senates like Texas is doing. And don’t try to impose curriculum reform like Florida is doing.
This approach can be applied to the constitutional obligation of the state Legislature to pass a budget.
Lawmakers might hear this session about a plan to implement “performance” budgeting within the university system. That is, instead of basing budgets on enrollment, some think it’s best to base investment in higher education on retention and completion rates.
As attractive as more “accountability” for schools sounds, research has shown these types of budget policies don’t actually help students succeed. And sometimes these policies change schools for the worse.
Lawmakers, do your due diligence in hearings on the merits of the university system’s budget. But changing the budget design would not just be another example of looking for a problem — it could actually do harm.
When debating the budget, please remember raises are always nice and needed. As a state employee, I thank the governor and lawmakers for recognizing the need for cost of living adjustments. I don’t know where my family would be without the $10,000 we have received in the last three years.
If indeed lawmakers leave higher education alone, I am hopeful the Board of Regents will get the message and know it doesn’t have to act in lawmakers’ stead and keep crafting policy as solutions in search of a problem.
A recent example of that came in November when the board specified the law that mandates college students get instruction in Georgia and United States history and our constitutions by naming specific texts students must read such as the Federalist Papers and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Apparently the law wasn’t enough to give our students the civics they need.
It is not coincidental that Mississippi and South Carolina lawmakers have filed bills in recent years with the Regents’ exact list.
The worst example of the board’s policy in search of a problem was the 2021 changes to faculty review based on the myth of the deadwood professor. I believe the university system’s own data now shows those changes were not needed, one study showing a lower rate of poor performance in experienced faculty than before the changes. The changes got the system censured by the nation’s professional standards organization for higher education, the American Association of University Professors, the group I represent. A simple fix has been on the table since the problem was created by the regents.
If my representatives at the Gold Dome want to improve our university system, this term stay on the sidelines and take pressure off leaders of the university system. Let them focus on an easy solution to an actual problem.
Matthew Boedy is an associate professor of rhetoric and composition at the University of North Georgia and conference president of the Georgia chapter of the American Association of University Professors, a national organization that represents the interests of college and university faculty members.
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