The Morehead State University Board of Regents met for its quarterly meeting Thursday at the Adron Doran University Center.
Performance-based funding dominated much of the meeting as officials try to meet metrics they call unfair to students and regional institutions.
Jill Ratliff, Assistant Vice President, Planning, Performance and Effectiveness, reported on the current state of the institution in regards to meeting the state-mandated metrics. Ratliff says M-S-U is currently meeting 8 of 20 targets.
"We were allowed to increase some of the metrics we were able to hit during the reevaluation in the spring,” Ratliff told the Board.. “Unfortunately some of those other metrics that we cannot meet we were not allowed to lower."
Dr. Annie Adams, who represents the Faculty at the University expressed her frustration with the funding model.
“So the metrics are individualized to the institution, and you can make them harder but you can't lower expectations?” Adams asked Ratliff. “How can they expect us to compete with the institutions with higher enrollment? I like cake but I'm tired of Marie Antoinette-ing it over here."
Morehead is slated to lose 2% of state revenue when performance-based funding is fully implemented in the fall of 2021.
President Dr. Jay Morgan requested and was granted permission to modify and consolidate lease agreements. He says this will save the university $600,000, which will then be used on additional debt consolidation.
Other items of business oat the meeting included:
- A proposal for a new Science and Math building has been vetted as 18th in the state for bonded construction projects.
- The Board approved a new bachelor’s degree in science program: systems engineering.
- Fall enrollment was down slightly as expected, which MSU officials say matches a nation-wide enrolment decline.