Connecticut students, educators, and taxpayers deserve better than the broken status quo at our Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU).

A pattern of entitlement among unaccountable administrators, wasteful spending, and mismanagement have led to the prospect of disastrous cutbacks for students and faculty. Where is the Board of Regents for Higher Education (BOR), the entity tasked with oversight of the CSCU system? Why did it take years of inaction for Gov. Ned Lamont to finally call for an outside audit of the CSCU system and its chancellor Terrence Cheng? How can we know taxpayer funds aren’t continuing to be misused?

Heather Somers Credit: Heather Somers.com

Getting answers for taxpayers, implementing concrete reforms, including real oversight, and holding those responsible accountable must be a priority for the legislature in the upcoming legislative session starting in January.

For years, those tasked with oversight of this unaccountable body, especially the Board of Regents, have sat idly by while Cheng was treated to cushy perks and treated taxpayer dollars meant for education like a personal piggy bank.

In addition to Cheng’s generous salary of $403,000, his compensation also includes a brand-new car and a separate $25,000 “housing and entertainment” allowance. Cheng has continued to live primarily in New York and makes a 90-minute commute to Hartford. That alone should not be problematic, many Connecticut residents commute to New York and vice versa.

But unlike those thousands of hardworking Connecticut citizens, Cheng used state college system funds to pay a chauffeur to drive him on his commute. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Reporters have uncovered a pattern of skirting spending rules and reporting requirements — from misusing his state car, frequently blowing past a $50 per-person cap with expensive meals, charging alcohol to his expense account, and keeping insufficient records.

The complete abdication of responsibility for those charged with overseeing the state college system is even more unacceptable now that educators and students face significant budget cuts – a direct consequence of years of tolerance for mismanagement and waste.

The National Center for Higher Education Management Systems found in a recently released report that CSCU, “has consistently fallen short in addressing its dire fiscal situation, suggesting sweeping reforms in order for the system’s long-term sustainability.”

This is on top of tuition increases in recent years. Chancellor Cheng and his complicit Board of Regents recently approved a 5% tuition price hike for students, the recipients of the bill for their inaction and failure.

The complete lack of accountability within the CSCU system goes deeper than fiscal management. Other reports have revealed that state college administrators spent time and resources looking for loopholes to let them extend grants, internships, and paid opportunities to illegal immigrants without disclosing their citizen status. While hardworking Connecticut citizens are being squeezed by inflation and one of the highest tax burdens in the nation, unaccountable administrators were trying to turn education dollars into new taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal immigrants.

The Board of Regents has been either incompetent, inattentive, or both. They have not acted nearly swiftly enough or aggressively enough to bring scrutiny and accountability to the CSCU system.

For this reason, the Board of Regents itself may need to be audited — in addition to the legislature exercising full accountability for the CSCU system itself in the upcoming session.

We must know how those tasked with overseeing our state colleges and approving tuition increases are allocating resources and making budgetary and management decisions. And we must know why it took so long, and ultimately for others to start asking questions, for the out-of-control situation to come to light. The legislature should consider whether structural reforms need to be made at a higher level — to how an unaccountable body of political appointees are left to oversee such an important institution of education in our state.

The misuse of taxpayer funds and ideologically charged behavior of those tasked with working for the taxpayers follows a pattern I’ve worked to expose and reform across various quasi-public boards and government agencies.

When I realized the Board of Pardons and Paroles was engaged in a reckless spree of commutations that included a number of violent criminals, I led the charge to expose them that forced the governor to replace the board chair. Now I’m leading the push to structurally reform the parole board to uphold public safety and protect victims.

Before that, I led the crackdown on mismanagement at the Port Authority. I demanded a public hearing to disinfect the mess with sunlight and wrote legislation to strengthen the independent watchdog office that reviews and vets contracts. I also helped expose abuse at Whiting Forensic Hospital and corruption at the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative (CMEEC), resulting in jail time for those responsible.

Real reform is always achievable. But it requires relentless leadership that cuts through the noise to deliver results and put our citizens and taxpayers before business as usual in Hartford.

As I have in the past, I will be ready to hold Hartford accountable to taxpayers. This time, to work with my fellow legislators, educators, students, and others to ensure taxpayer funds meant for educating the next generation are spent for that purpose, not lavish perks for unaccountable administrators or ideological pet projects.

Heather Somers represents the 18th District of Connecticut in the State Senate.