§18B-1A-4. Legislative financing goals.

(a) The Legislature recognizes that the higher education goals set forth in section one-a, article one of this chapter are of utmost importance. The Legislature further recognizes that meeting the goals may require the appropriation of funds above the current operating budgets of the institutions.

(b) It is, therefore, the desire of the Legislature to increase funding annually for higher education at a rate not less than the annual percentage increase in the overall general revenue budget.

(c) If the commission or council, or both, determines that appropriations are insufficient to fund the requirements of the institutional compacts under its jurisdiction, the commission or council first shall consider extending the length of the compacts or otherwise modifying the compacts to allow the institutions to achieve the benchmarks in the compacts. If modifications to the institutional compacts are not sufficient to allow the institutions to meet their benchmarks, the commission or council, or both, shall recommend to the Legislature methods of making the higher education system more efficient. The methods may include, but are not limited to, the following:

(1) Administrative efficiencies;

(2) Consolidation of services;

(3) Elimination of programs;

(4) Consolidating institutions; and

(5) Closing institutions.