North Dakota’s Higher Education Commissioner says there’s a lot of interest among legislators on three topics — the higher ed funding formula, online education and dual-credit issues.
Brent Sanford told the state Board of Higher Education there have been a number of interim committee meetings dealing with those issues. Sanford said he wanted to assure the 11 institutions in the university system that — as he put it — “We’ve got your back.”
"It's not easy, when there are 11 differences of opinion on each one of these items," Sanford said.
But Sanford said the good thing is, the intention from Legislative leadership and the executive branch is to encourage more of these innovations, and a positive attitude toward higher education in general. Plus, he said there is a desire to make sure funding levels are appropriate going forward.
"It's not an adversarial relationship," Sanford said. "It's just trying to figure out how best to move through the upcoming Legislative session, and what we have in store for us in the future."
Sanford said there are some headwinds the colleges and universities will have to face.
"Such as declining K-12 student enrollment, and declining, in some cases, national views toward higher education itself," Sanford said.
But Sanford said he feels like the system is unified with statewide leadership."
"That's a good thing," Sanford said.
Sanford told the Board the only down-side is that he has to attend more meetings.
