January 2003 Minutes/Joint meeting: Arizona Board of Regents/State Board of Education

A joint meeting of the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) and the State Board of Education (State Board) was held January 10, 2003, by Video Conference from the Business College C Wing, Room 328, at Arizona State University in Tempe, the ADEL Building, Room 137, at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, the Harvill Building, Room 211, at the University of Arizona in Tucson, and Arizona Western College, La Paz Campus INT Room in Parker. ABOR President Jack Jewett called the joint meeting to order at 1:05 p.m.

PRESENT:	Regent Fred Boice (UA) Regent Robert Bulla (ASU) Regent Chris Herstam (ASU) Regent Jack Jewett (ASU) Regent Matthew Meaker (ASU) Regent Kay McKay (NAU) Regent Christina Palacios (UA) Regent Danelle Kelling (ASU) Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne (ASU)
ABSENT:	Governor Janet Napolitano Regent Gary Stuart Regent Donald Ulrich

Also present were: Also present at ASU were State Board members Ms. Nadine Mathis-Basha, and Dr. Matthew Diethelm, State Board Executive Director Christy Farley, President Michael Crow, Executive Director Linda Blessing, Board Counsel Joel Sideman, and Secretary to the Board Judy Garza; at UA were State Board members Dr. Wade McLean, Dr. Linda Arzoumanian and President Peter Likins; at Arizona Western College State Board member Ms. Conkie Hoover; and President Haeger at NAU.

President Jewett introduced Tom Horne, the new Superintendent of Public Instruction. Mr. Horne serves both as Regent and as a member of the State Board of Education. He also thanked Dr. Wade McLean, Vice President of the State Board, for the State Board’s willingness to meet with ABOR. He noted there were members of the Arizona Business and Education Coalition and members of the Greater Phoenix Leadership present in the audience.

President Jewett introduced and explained the origins of the Changing Directions initiative. The State of Arizona has chosen to reduce their investment in education and there is a large budget shortfall. The universities are being asked to provide more with less money and the Regents have struggled with tuition and how to meet everyone’s needs. Accordingly, the Regents have asked the presidents to look at new ways of doing things. Guiding principles have been enacted and the Regents have begun to change policies to permit more flexibility at the universities.

For the first time, the Regents are looking at tuition increases in the context of how financial aid can be incorporated with the increases to help hold harmless needy students. The Regents are considering a significant tuition increase, but are also considering an increase in the percentage of that increase that would be set-aside for need-based aid. They are considering raising tuition so Arizona tuition would be at the top of the bottom third of senior public institutions.

The Regents are also considering adding flexibility to the admissions policy. There will be a study session in January to begin to work on that issue. There will be major decisions made this year, but this initiative will not be accomplished in just twelve months.

President Crow said the Regents are allowing the universities to mature, to seek their own identity, and to cooperate. They are being challenged to become more entrepreneurial and to move forward with a wide range of resources. The mission of ASU is to build a great comprehensive metropolitan university, embedded within the community. ASU should embrace the notion of growing to an even larger size with multiple campuses with multiple schools, each school having its own admission standards.

Dr. Crow believes a higher graduation rate can be achieved by matching students with the correct program. ASU should help the University of Arizona build an even better medical school with its research initiatives, and there should be more K-12 initiatives. Dr. Crow believes each person at ASU is a teacher and should operate from that premise.

President Haeger said public funding in higher education is changing. The impact of the new economy makes a college education a must. Current graduation rates are not where they should be. Technology is having a big impact on mission, price, what is being taught, and where it is being taught.

Dr. Haeger said this all means NAU should pursue a different model from the other two universities. At NAU, undergraduate residential education is most important; it drives everything else. NAU wants to become a model for the country with small classes, a diverse population, and a close working relationship with K-12. NAU will continue to build research infrastructure, but on a smaller scale than the other two universities. There will be a focused role in graduate education and research which will serve the undergraduate programs. NAU currently has the capability to offer programs anywhere and at anytime. It serves the adult population needs which, in turn, helps the economics of the state.

President Likins said Changing Directions had arisen out of necessity. The universities are not funded satisfactorily and are eroding. When resources are limited, constraints need to be relaxed. This will provide a new opportunity for students and faculty to work their way through onerous constraints. Mission differentiation, tuition, and financial aid issues must all be addressed.

Dr. Likins said the Regents are considering linking tuition and financial aid in a new way. Tuition has been low, but not affordable because of lack of financial aid. There is a need to increase tuition, but to protect access and increase financial aid.

President Likins said the University of Arizona dos not have the capacity to absorb an increasing number of students unless admission standards change. He would like to see the Regents set the overall policy and let each of the universities establish its own admission criteria. It might be different in different areas on the same campus. He believes part of the UA mission differentiation means It needs to grow more slowly to develop a higher profile among public research universities. The university needs to develop a focused excellence. They are developing strategies for eliminating programs, adding programs, and reorganizing programs and administration. This will increase the capacity to respond to new opportunities. These changes will be hard for some people to accept, but the Regents have given the universities the responsibility to meet current financial challenges. Dr. Likins said the UA will be announcing next week its strategies to eliminate programs.

The university wants to create greater diversity, become more collaborative with K-12 and the community colleges, and to share between and among other educational entities. There is a great need to motivate young people in lower grades to work toward higher education. One of the universities’ important roles is preparing teachers and helping current teachers.

Ms. Mathis-Basha pledged support to a greater seamless system. She said scarce resources mean everyone should collaborate, not compete. She asked which of the universities intended to continue to be involved with teacher preparation and support and was told all three will continue with teacher preparation. The Arizona Regents University has focused on teacher preparation, too.

Dr. Crow said one of ASU’s prime directives was to train teachers. He intends to enhance the three programs, but not make them the same. He would like to enhance linkages with K-12. He would also like to make teacher certification available to students working on math, English, Spanish, or other degrees. President Likins said all three universities would continue to engage in certain basic programs such as teacher preparation, engineering, nursing, etc. In some other fields, only one university may teach that program.

Dr. Diethelm said K-12 has embarked on an equally serious continuous improvement program. He encouraged more collaboration among the universities and the State Board to develop better ways of helping students.

Dr. Arzoumanian said she was worried about the rural students meeting new admission standards and asked if the universities had worked with the community colleges to develop residential programs. She was told the current articulation agreements will be maintained and students will continue to have the same admission avenues to the universities through the community colleges as they have now. President Haeger said the future will require building on what is great about the 2 + 2 programs and community college articulation. More ways should be developed to help more place-bound students complete their program and graduate. NAU has a deep commitment to teacher preparation. He would like to recruit more teachers in subject matter areas in the community colleges.

Ms. Hoover said teacher preparation is the key to all education. There is also a need to monitor teachers who come into the schools from other states. President Likins said there is a need to increase teacher compensation so teachers will stay in Arizona.

Dr. McLean said there should be a partnership between ABOR and the State Board to help with the budget shortfall and maintain education interests. President Jewett said the Governor had expressed over-all support for education. The state needs to increase financial aid and support technical transfer issues. The legislature does have a budget crisis and the current structure won’t meet needs. Meetings like this are important to keep the channels of communication open.

Superintendent Horne said teacher compensation and state aid for education are a problem. Everyone is playing defense now; however, when the economy turns around education wants to be at the tope of the list. In order to accomplish this, there must be accountability. Districts are being encouraged to be more efficient in their use of funds.

Superintendent Horne said teacher recruitment and retention also depend on working conditions. He believes students in substantive majors need to be able to get teacher certification. President Crow stated he supports this idea as well. He intends to make a proposal to allow students to pass the AIMS test with different scores which will be noted on high school diplomas. He suggested one requirement for university admission could be a certain score on the AIMS test.

President Jewett thanked everyone for attending and encouraged more meetings of this type.

MINUTES