House speaker says relationship between the legislature and higher education strongest in history

The lean days Oklahoma higher education experienced during the 2010s appear to be in the rear-view mirror, but legislative leaders have told Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education the state system will continue to have to show results as it competes for budget dollars.

During a two-day meeting last week, regents heard from Oklahoma Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, and Oklahoma House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, about legislative priorities for the 2024 session and how higher ed fits into the budget mix. Both men expressed optimism about the current state of the relationship between the Legislature and higher ed.

McCall, who’s entering his final year in the Legislature and his eighth year as the speaker, told regents he’s in a period of reflection about his role as a legislator and leader.

“I think about the state in general and about higher education, and I believe the relationship between the Legislature and higher education is the strongest it’s ever been,” McCall said. “It’s come a very long way. When I came to (be) the speaker (in 2017), there was a lot of distrust and some friction.

“Over the years, the Legislature (has) deliberately tried to work very close and be respectful of the job and mission you have, and I believe the regents have also listened to the Legislature and some of the political dynamics that they have to deal with with constituents.”

Oklahoma higher education has seen less funding due to tighter budgets

From 2016 to 2018, the state appropriation to higher education was cut by more than $250 million as the state grappled with budget shortfalls. In 2018 alone, higher education absorbed a 6% budget hit, and that came after a 16% cut the year before. But by 2023, state appropriations for Oklahoma’s higher education system operations increased by 7.45% to $873.4 million, and it rose to $1,003,794,375 for the current year.

Regents have requested a 12.2% increase from the Legislature to $1,126,192,246 for the next yearly budget and will begin defending that request in hearings during the next few months before the legislative session starts in February. State Chancellor Allison Garrett said she’s excited about the opportunity to do that.

“I’m certainly hopeful, and we are very grateful we’ve gotten appropriations increases, at least in the last two years that I’ve been here,” Garrett said. “Higher ed is crucial to any state’s economy. The states that have a robust system of higher education and produce more graduates have more diversified economies, higher levels of income and tend to do better economically. We’re excited about the opportunity to go and make our case.”

McCall said workforce development will remain a top priority for the House.

“Your leadership within higher education and helping us bring alignment … has been great to (address) workforce challenges for the state of Oklahoma,” McCall told regents. “That’s going to continue to be an issue for us. The state of Oklahoma needs to outpace the other states in terms of workforce pipeline.”

Among the issues the state Senate plans to discuss is helping the state’s 25 public colleges and universities address needs such as deferred building maintenance and rising insurance costs. Included in the regents’ budget request is $200 million in capital and special funding that would help fund deferred maintenance, as well as improving campus security and cybersecurity.

Treat said Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, the chairman of the state Senate Education subcommittee, will take the lead on deferred maintenance and insurance issues.

“There is a real state responsibility on the insurance side on higher ed,” Treat said. “And separate and apart from the normal bonding, we’re talking about real money going into deferred maintenance. … There is real opportunity in infrastructure investment in one-time money.”

What the Oklahoma Senate is expecting from budget requests

Treat said higher education leaders should be prepared to defend their budget request in the Senate, not just for new spending proposals, but for so-called “base” proposals, which reflect spending levels approved in previous years.

“Competition absolutely drives excellence,” he said. “Too often in the government realm, we have these things on autopilot. … Competition for those dollars will drive excellence. It will drive innovation. You shouldn’t be scared of (defending) those base dollars.

“What I am looking for … is when we fund this program, what are your expected results, in what time frame do you expect those results, and then I want to go back and measure in that time frame to see if you’re actually achieving those results. What are the metrics of success? Don’t be afraid of competition.”

Regent Jeff Hickman, of Fairview, who was the House speaker before McCall, told Treat that tuition caps for the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University, which long have been tied to those of other Big 12 Conference schools, will need to be updated because of changes in conference membership. OU is headed into the Southeastern Conference, while four universities (Brigham Young, Houston, Cincinnati and Central Florida) entered the Big 12 for 2023-24 and four more (Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah) will be joining for 2024-25.

Hickman suggested it might not make sense to tie tuition caps to athletic conferences and said they could perhaps be tied to institutions within the region. The Legislature would need to either determine what those schools are or delegate that authority to regents. Treat said the issue hadn’t been on his radar but that he would work with regents to address it.