A panel of Iowa lawmakers from the House of Representatives advanced a bill requiring the Iowa Board of Regents to submit a report establishing a performance-based funding model for regent universities to the general assembly and governor. 

The model would take into consideration graduation rates, the number of degrees awarded in areas corresponding to high-demand jobs in the state, post-graduate employment rates, post-graduate income, and the number of graduates who remain in the state after graduation.

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Iowa Board of Regents State Relations Officer Jillian Carlson was a critic of House Study Bill 541.  She said while the regents are registered as undecided on the bill, there are concerns with the metrics of the bill that conflict with certain state needs, including post-graduate income for students attending the three regent institutions.

“Our universities make a big effort to help the workforce needs in rural areas where wages tend to be lower, and so that’s one concern that we would have with that particular metric,” she said.

Carlson said she knows lawmakers are working to create efficiencies, but the regents are also working to budget and create reviews of revenue.

The panel was made up of Rep. Taylor Collins, R-Mediapolis, Rep. John Wills, R-Spirit Lake, and Rep. Heather Matson, D-Ankney. 

Matson criticized the bill and said she was not going to sign off on it because there has been a lack of engagement and conversation on the topic among lawmakers, lobbyists, and the community. 

She cited the criteria for the bill, including graduation rates and the number of graduates who remain in the state after graduation. However, she said these requirements don’t take into account changes that can happen within universities. 

“It is possible that a university is going to be penalized in how they are funded because a student after graduation makes a decision that may or may not be best for them and their families,” Matson said.

Matson said the regents are working on a funding model that takes student enrollment and other changes into account.

Wills was in favor of the bill and said implementing these changes will allow regent universities to become more efficient.

“I would say that this bill has a purpose, and we can’t just automatically always say we’re just going to go with a status quo and we’re just going to go along and do what we’ve done for the last 100 years, because things change and and we need to evolve as as a state,” he said.