A week after unveiling an agenda for beefing up Colorado's public schools, Senate and House Republicans proposed a plan today to shore up the state's higher-education system.

The measures establish a reliable funding stream for higher ed by drawing on surging revenue from oil and gas development. At the same time, Republicans will demand more accountability by attaching new performance standards to the state's funding contracts with colleges and universities. The proposals also provide for a smoother path to enrollment in higher education, including a program that will offer merit-based scholarships for low-income students and another that will require a school district to pick up the tab for remedial course work if its graduates arrive at college unprepared.

Republican leaders in both chambers described their approach to higher education as an innovative but realistic plan that aims to garner support on both sides of the aisle. The plan's funding formula is the only practical way to meet higher ed's needs, they said, because the public is unlikely to embrace a tax hike.

"We want to make sure Colorado's colleges and universities have the resources they need to prepare our students for the 21st century economy," said Senate GOP leader Andy McElhany, of Colorado Springs. "Let's not jeopardize that priority by kidding ourselves that taxpayers will fork over the additional funds. That is very unlikely."

House Republican leader Mike May, of Parker, said the Republican plan not only dedicates a stream of revenue to a higher-ed trust fund but also demands accountability for that funding.

"We are using a carrot-and-stick approach," May said. "Our colleges and universities have reasonable concerns about reliable funding for the future, and the public has reasonable concerns over whether tax dollars and tuition dollars are being spent wisely and effectively. Our plan addresses both of those concerns."

The Republican plan's funding component first was proposed earlier this year by Sen. Josh Penry, R-Fruita, and Rep. Al White, R-Winter Park and would tap into natural-gas revenue from  the West Slope's Roan Plateau. That plan would generate an estimated $500 million to $1 billion in leasing fees to Colorado's state government and another $100 million or more annually for the next 20 to 30 years in mineral royalties and state and local energy taxes.

The plan would dedicate half of the revenue derived from natural gas production on the Roan to a permanent trust fund for Colorado's colleges and universities. The legislators would dedicate the other half of the revenue to a trust fund for energy-impacted communities, with the interest providing a secure revenue stream for West Slope roads and bridges in perpetuity.

With revenue from oil and gas production soaring statewide, Republican lawmakers  are saying the Penry-White plan's formula could be applied to all the state's oil and gas revenue, including from the Roan, to help establish a permanent trust for higher ed. Already, the Roan proposal has sparked bipartisan negotiations within an interim committee formed last year to explore a new approach to spending the state’s energy

money. 

Editorial boards at many of the state's leading newspapers--including the The Denver Post, the Rocky Mountain News, the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel and the Durango Herald--have endorsed the Republicans' Roan plan, as  have various local governments and the West Slope advocacy group Club 20.

The Republicans' push for greater accountability will be led by Sen. Mike Kopp, of Littleton, and Rep. Frank McNulty, of Highlands Ranch, in a bill being drafted to hold  higher-ed to performance standards. Right now, colleges and universities get their funding not only through tuition vouchers granted by the state to students but also through contracts between the state and those schools. Those contracts do not tie standards to funding under current policy. The lawmakers are eyeing performance measures that would be linked to funding, such as producing more graduates in engineering and the applied sciences. 

"We're currently giving higher ed open-ended contracts," Kopp said. "Taxpayers, including students, expect greater accountability." 

Newspapers including the Rocky Mountain News have editorialized in favor streamlining bureaucracies and improving accountability at the state's higher-education institutions.

McElhany reiterated that the key to success in higher education's future is accountability plus reliable funding that doesn't further burden the taxpaying public.

"By now, even the governor must realize taxpayers will be hard pressed by all of the other tax and fee increases he is likely to propose for things like health care and transportation," McElhany said. "And let's not forget a statewide property-tax hike already has been imposed on the public. We have to think outside the box."