Performance Based Funding: A Faculty Critique and Action Agenda

Spring
1998
Topic
General Concerns
Committee
Educational Policies Committee

This paper reviews and analyzes a 1997-98 budget proposal by the Chancellor and Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. The proposal was to fund a portion of the California Community College budget on a performance basis, with a differential payout mechanism for colleges based on progress on selected indicators of student achievement. Entitled "Partnership for Excellence," the proposal was incorporated and further extended in the initial budget proposed by the Governor of California. This paper briefly reviews the history of performance based funding, places the proposal in the context of national and international developments, and provides a critique of this budgetary approach in public higher education. Finally, the paper sets out an action plan for the Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges in responding to calls for performance based funding.