§ 6-61-229 - Funding formula model for two-year colleges.
6-61-229. Funding formula model for two-year colleges.
(a) The funding formula model for two-year colleges shall:
(1) Serve as a tool for implementing the broad goals of the State of Arkansas and the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board;
(2) Be based on reliable and uniform data;
(3) Be simple to understand, sensitive to colleges' differing missions, and responsive to changes within them; and
(4) Make provisions for special-purpose units.
(b) (1) The model shall determine the funding needs of two-year colleges in four (4) student-semester-credit-hour or full-time-equivalent, student-based expenditure functions, one (1) square-footage-based expenditure function, and one (1) contact hour expenditure function.
(2) (A) The student semester credit hour or full-time equivalent-based expenditure functions shall include:
(i) Teaching salaries;
(ii) Academic support;
(iii) Student services; and
(iv) Institutional support.
(B) The square footage-based expenditure function shall be designated for facilities maintenance and operations.
(C) Funding for workforce education programs shall be determined from student contact hours.
(c) In order to determine the teaching salaries needs of the two-year colleges, the student semester credit hour shall be summarized into four (4) academic discipline categories based upon the relative costs of academic programs as determined by historical expenditure patterns.
(d) The cost categories shall be designated as general education, technical education, basic skills, and allied health as follows:
(1) General education shall include the following academic disciplines:
(A) Agriculture business;
(B) Natural resources;
(C) Archeology;
(D) Communications;
(E) Education;
(F) Engineering;
(G) Foreign languages;
(H) Home economics;
(I) Law;
(J) Letters;
(K) Liberal studies;
(L) Biology or life sciences, or both;
(M) Mathematics;
(N) Interdisciplinary;
(O) Health;
(P) Recreation;
(Q) Philosophy;
(R) Physical sciences;
(S) Psychology;
(T) Public administration;
(U) Social sciences;
(V) Transportation;
(W) Visual arts; and
(X) Performing arts;
(2) Technical education shall include the following academic disciplines:
(A) Agriculture;
(B) Marketing;
(C) Communications technology;
(D) Engineering technology;
(E) Technical education;
(F) Science technology;
(G) Protective services;
(H) Construction trades;
(I) Mechanics;
(J) Precision production; and
(K) Business management;
(3) Basic skills shall include remedial or developmental, or both, student semester credit hours; and
(4) Allied health shall include health professions.
(e) (1) The number of full-time-equivalent faculty needed by a college shall be determined using the established workload standards required to produce a need for one (1) full-time-equivalent faculty member.
(2) The workload standards to produce a full-time-equivalent faculty member shall be:
(A) Six hundred sixty (660) student semester credit hours for general education;
(B) Four hundred eighty (480) student semester credit hours for technical education and basic skills; and
(C) Three hundred sixty (360) student semester credit hours for allied health.
(f) (1) The full-time-equivalent faculty needs of each college shall be determined by dividing the workload standards into the college's student semester credit hours in that cost category.
(2) Funding for teaching salaries for each college shall be determined by multiplying the total or full-time-equivalent faculty needs of each college by the predicted Southern Regional Education Board average salary for two-year colleges with no academic rank.
(3) The teaching salary funding shall be adjusted for the use of part-time faculty or full-time-equivalent faculty needs generated by student semester credit hours taught by part-time faculty and shall be funded at one-half (1/2) of the rate of those student semester credit hours taught by full-time faculty members.
(4) The part-time faculty adjustment for each college will be determined each biennium by the Department of Higher Education staff.
(5) The fringe benefits for teaching salaries shall be determined by multiplying the teaching salaries funding by the current average fringe benefit rate, which shall be determined for the biennium by the department staff.
(6) The total teaching salaries needs of a college shall include the fringe benefits and teaching salary needs.
(g) (1) Funding needs for the academic support functions shall be equal to sixty percent (60%) of adjusted teaching salaries plus thirty-five thousand dollars ($35,000) for a staff salary in public service.
(2) Fringe benefits for academic support shall be determined by multiplying the fringe benefit rate determined for the biennium by sixty percent (60%) of the academic support funding described in subdivision (g)(1) of this section.
(h) (1) The funding needs for student services shall be calculated based on a variable rate per student using the mean of full-time-equivalent enrollment and headcount enrollment.
(2) Student services funding shall include an economy-of-scale component that will provide progressively less funding per student over established enrollment levels.
(3) For the 2005-2007 biennium, student services funding for the first seven hundred fifty (750) students shall be funded at a higher rate to be determined each biennium; the next two thousand two hundred fifty (2,250) students shall be funded at a lesser rate; and all students in excess of a three thousand (3,000) full-time-equivalent enrollment level shall be funded at a lower rate.
(4) The funding rates for each level shall have a full-time-equivalent enrollment level that shall be adjusted biennially for inflation.
(5) Full-time-equivalent enrollment levels shall be reviewed annually to determine whether they require adjustment.
(6) Fringe benefits for student services shall be calculated as an amount equal to the biennial fringe benefit rate multiplied by sixty percent (60%) of the calculated student services funding needs under subdivision (h)(3) of this section.
(i) Institutional support funding shall be as follows based on the college's full-time-equivalent student enrollment:
(1) For one thousand (1,000) or fewer students enrolled, an amount equal to twenty-one percent (21%) of the total teaching salaries, academic support, student services, and facilities maintenance and operations;
(2) For one thousand one (1,001) to three thousand (3,000) students enrolled, an amount equal to eighteen percent (18%) of the total of the teaching salaries, academic support, student services, and facilities maintenance and operations;
(3) For more than three thousand (3,000) students enrolled, an amount equal to fifteen percent (15%) of the total teaching salaries, academic support, student services, and facilities maintenance and operations.
(j) (1) Facilities maintenance and operations funding shall be based upon each college's square footage needs as determined by the Space Need Model that determines need based on the college's full-time equivalent enrollment and the mix of academic programs that the college offers.
(2) (A) For each year of the biennium, the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall determine a funding rate per square foot based on the most recent cost experiences of the college.
(B) That rate shall be multiplied by the college's actual square footage that does not exceed one hundred fifty percent (150%) of the Space Need Model's determined need of the college.
(C) Square footage in excess of one hundred fifty percent (150%) of the Space Need Model's determined need of the college shall be funded at a lower rate.
(D) Colleges with a deficit in square footage as defined by the Space Need Model will have the square footage shortfall partially funded to compensate for the intensity of the use of the facilities.
(k) Funding for workforce education shall be based on contact hours and shall be calculated by using an established rate for the first ten thousand (10,000) contact hours, a lesser rate for the next ten thousand (10,000), and a lesser rate for all noncredit contact hours in excess of twenty thousand (20,000).
(l) The total expenditure needs of each college shall be equal to the sum of teaching salaries, academic support, student services, institutional support, facilities maintenance and operations, and workforce education.
(m) (1) The appropriation needs of each college shall be the total expenditure needs of the college less the calculated tuition and fee income.
(2) The Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall establish biennially a tuition rate per credit hour for two-year colleges with revenue derived from a local tax, including, but not limited to, a sales tax or an ad valorem tax, and a higher per credit hour tuition rate for those colleges without revenue derived from a local tax.
(n) (1) The formula does not provide funds for institutional scholarships, debt service, or fund transfers.
(2) The revenue domain for the funding model shall include only state appropriations and student tuition and fee income and shall not include private contributions and other discretionary funds.
(3) The revenue domain shall exclude funding at the colleges from all sources other than from student tuition and state appropriations, including, but not limited to, local tax levies, the federal government, private sources, and self-supporting activities.
(4) Since the general definition specifies operating funds, the funding model also does not consider the appropriation and allocation of capital funds.
(o) (1) The funding formula model shall only be utilized to allocate funds to the two-year colleges.
(2) It shall not be used to prescribe the allocation of those funds within the colleges.
(p) Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, each two-year college shall receive a minimum base funding equal to the greater of three million dollars ($3,000,000) per fiscal year or an amount equal to the previous year's funding per fiscal year.