Barton Community College trustees will learn more about the Legislature’s plans to change how state community colleges are funded, during the Board of Trustees’ next study session, at 4 p.m. Monday in room F-30 of the BCC Fine Arts Building.

Dean of Administration Mark Dean will give the report on Senate Bill 143, which creates "tiered funding" for technical courses based on the cost of providing the courses. As part of the process, the state is relying on data from the Kansas Study, the first national study of community college instructional costs and productivity. The Legislature will determine funding for both the postsecondary tiered technical state aid and the non-tiered course credit hour grant during the legislative session.

If implemented and fully funded, state aid at Barton could nearly double, according to Dean’s report. If the formula were in place for Fiscal Year 2012 with full funding, the state’s aid to Barton for its share the college’s actual costs would have been $13,885,376, approximately 91 percent more than the $7,244,478 Barton will actually receive in state aid. For FY-12, non-tiered programs and courses were funded at 79 percent of the cost of delivery, and tiered level programs and courses were funded at 31 percent of the cost of delivery.

Monday’s BCC Board of Trustees study session was rescheduled from last Thursday because Barton President Carl Heilman was in Topeka this past week to speak to legislators about the proposed funding model.

Another topic Monday will be changes in the college’s Criminal Justice program, based on the statewide alignment of CJ programs that was approved by the Kansas Board of Regents last December. Other topics on the agenda include the BCC financial statement, Phi Theta Kappa presentation, a Shafer Gallery impact study, plans for a board retreat March 8-9 at Fort Riley, and a presentation on Career Technical Education Month. Additionally, trustees will continue to receive training on using their iPads, as needed.