FY 2016 Appropriation

The Utah State Board of Regents is the governing body for the Utah System of Higher Education (USHE). The Utah Legislature grants it the power to control, manage, and supervise the USHE. The Board's major responsibilities include selecting and evaluating institutional presidents, setting policy, approving programs, missions, and degrees, and submitting a unified higher education budget request to the Governor and State Legislature. The Board of Regents is comprised of 19 Utah citizens, representing the entire state geographically: 16 appointed by the Governor, 3 non-voting members (from the Utah State Board of Education and Utah College of Applied Technology). 15 of the 16 appointed members serve six-year terms. The other member is a student, appointed by student body presidents, who serves a one-year term.

Funding History

Funding Issues

Performance Based Funding

The item was established to provide USHE institutions with a monetary incentive to make improvements in student particpation, retention, and completion. Criteria have been established, which, if met by an institution, will result in the disbursement of the allocated funds. FY 2014 funding was $1 million (one-time); FY 2015 funding was $1.5 million (also one-time).

Regents' Scholarship

The Regents' Scholarship was established to create an incentive for high school students to take a rigorous curriculum in high school to better prepare them for college. The incentive is a partial scholarship paid directly to the student to offset some fo the tuition costs.
Appropriation Overview

During the 2015 General Session, the Legislature appropriated for Fiscal Year 2016, $47,354,000 from all sources for State Board of Regents. This is a 39.2 percent increase from Fiscal Year 2015 revised estimated amounts from all sources. The total includes $46,086,700 from the General/Education Funds, an increase of 40.7 percent from revised Fiscal Year 2015 estimates.

Appropriation Adjustments

In addition to statewide compensation and internal service fund cost increases, the following appropriation adjustments were made during the 2015 General Session:

DescriptionOngoingOne-Time Compensation - USHE & UCAT$80,400$0
OngoingOne-TimeFinancing Source
$53,800$0General Fund
$26,600$0Education Fund
No Description
Engineering Initiative$3,500,000$1,000,000
OngoingOne-TimeFinancing Source
$3,500,000$0Education Fund
$0$1,000,000Education Fund, One-time
The 2007 Legislature approved $2 million in one-time funding for the Engineering Initiative.
Health Insurance - USHE & UCAT$23,700$0
OngoingOne-TimeFinancing Source
$16,000$0General Fund
$7,700$0Education Fund
No Description
Math Competency Initiative$1,925,000 ($100,000)
OngoingOne-TimeFinancing Source
$1,925,000$0Education Fund
$0 ($100,000)Education Fund, One-time
Enactment of this legislation likely will not materially impact state revenue. Enactment of this bill may cost the State Board of Education $100,000 one-time from the Education Fund in the current fiscal year to implement changes to IT data systems in order to report, verify, and maintain student mathematics competencies as outlined in the bill. Further, enactment of this bill may cost $1,725,000 ongoing from the Education Fund to the Minimum School Program to provide expanded concurrent enrollment options and $200,000 ongoing beginning in FY 2017 from the Education Fund to administrative costs at the State Board of Regents.
Performance Based Funding$2,000,000$7,000,000
OngoingOne-TimeFinancing Source
$2,000,000$0Education Fund
$0$7,000,000Education Fund, One-time
The item was established to provide USHE institutions with a monetary incentive to make improvements in student particpation, retention, and completion. Criteria have been established, which, if met by an institution, will result in the disbursement of the allocated funds. FY 2014 funding was $1 million (one-time); FY 2015 funding was $1.5 million (also one-time).
Regents' Scholarship$500,000$2,500,000
OngoingOne-TimeFinancing Source
$500,000$0Education Fund
$0$2,500,000Education Fund, One-time
The Regents' Scholarship was established to create an incentive for high school students to take a rigorous curriculum in high school to better prepare them for college. The incentive is a partial scholarship paid directly to the student to offset some fo the tuition costs.
USHE Reallocation ($82,000)$0
OngoingOne-TimeFinancing Source
($82,000)$0General Fund
No Description
Veterans Tuition Gap$0$60,000
OngoingOne-TimeFinancing Source
$0$60,000General Fund, One-time
Provide tuition assistance to Veterans (see SB 16 2014 GS)

The following are performance measures tracked within this organization.

Statute

The following laws govern the Board of Regents in addition to the laws previously mentioned:

  • UCA 53B-1 defines the governance, powers, rights and responsibilities of the Board of Regents;
  • UCA 53B-6 requires the board of establish a master plan for higher education, evaluate the productivity of the institutions, assess student performance, and biennially report their assessment to the Legislature; and
  • UCA 53B-7 requires the board to prepare appropriation recommendations on the operating budgets of the higher education institutions.

Intent Language

SB0002: Item 129

The Legislature intends that the State Board of Regents explore the feasibility of collecting graduation rates by CIP and report its findings to the Legislature during the 2016 General Session.

SB0002: Item 129

The Legislature further intends that the State Board of Regents support institutions within the Utah System of Higher Education in compiling, standardizing, and reporting data to the Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee.

SB0002: Item 129

The Legislature intends that State Board of Regents make earnings and other pertinent data from Utah Data Alliance available to students, parents, teachers, counselors, and other interested parties, subject to the Utah Data Alliance receiving continued funding.

The State Board of Regents funding consists mainly of General Funds and Education Funds, most of which are passed through to the institutions, however there are some Federal Funds available.

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COBI contains unaudited data as presented to the Legislature by state agencies at the time of publication. For audited financial data see the State of Utah's Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports.