Editorial: Funding formula is PaSSHE pipe dream

Will a new formula redistribute state university money in a way that works?

The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education’s governing board unanimously approved the funding proposal on Wednesday. It would follow what seems like an obvious plan, directing the money based on enrollment at what will be 10 universities spread over 16 campuses.

The issue is that the formula should work — but only if the universities get $75 million more than they had for the 2021-22 school year.

A Pennlive story quotes Indiana University of Pennsylvania President Michael Driscoll, who helped create the formula, as saying it “doesn’t work” at the present funding level of $477.5 million.

“It’s just a matter of (which university) runs out of money first and then who follows,” he said.

If the people who created the formula recognize that it isn’t viable without a 15.7% increase in state funding, it hardly seems like something that should have passed without a single vote against it.

State university funding is seldom — if ever — delivered at the requested amounts. It doesn’t happen for the big dogs — state-related universities Pitt, Penn State and Temple. It seems unlikely to happen for the struggling state system that already has consolidated six of its colleges into two “new” universities that are clearly in name only. Pennsylvania Western University marries the schools in California, Clarion and Edinboro. Commonwealth University does the same with Bloomsburg, Lock Haven and Mansfield.

So what happens if the governor and state Legislature perform their annual budget knife fight and end up giving the state system exactly the same funding it’s already receiving, or just a bump of a few percent?

Creating a formula that depends on a theoretical ideal increase is like buying a house based on the paycheck you want rather than the paycheck you have. It’s setting up a situation unlikely to work in the long run.