Panel hears ideas in Cape on education

Education institutions at every level must cooperate to prepare Missourians for more demanding jobs and a commission studying state government should expect that cooperation, state Sen. Jason Crowell said Friday.

Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, told the Missouri State Government Review Commission that one obstacle for people seeking to further their education is the difficulty of transferring credits from community or technical colleges to four-year institutions. Developing a seamless education system is crucial, he said at a commission hearing at the Show Me Center. It requires a hard look at the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education as well as the Department of Higher Education.

Kenneth Dobbins, president of Southeast Missouri State University, also spoke to commission members, saying he doesn't believe Missourians would get better service from education institutions if there were one all-powerful governing board under the University of Missouri rather than the current structure. Each university has regents or curators setting policy for campuses.

"We fail to see how dramatic changes in the governance of Missouri higher education could make a positive difference," he said.

Former state commissioner of higher education Charles McClain, also a member of the reform commission, wrestled with that issue and other problems of higher education during his tenure. He questioned how much power regional and statewide universities would be willing to give up. "Just having a new arrangement of chairs is not going to provide efficiencies," he said.

The commission is a 20-member panel appointed by Gov. Matt Blunt. By late fall, co-chairman Stephen Bradford of Cape Girardeau said, it will submit a report recommending steps to make state government more efficient, better organized and more responsive to residents' needs.

Commission members endured some criticism during their hearing. A Department of Social Services caseworker, Larry Patterson of Cape Girar-

deau, told the panel that many state employees fear that reorganization could mean privatization.

Assumptions about what will appear in the commission's report are premature, said Bradford, president of Pyramid Tri-County Health Services in Cape Girardeau. "Privatization is a concept worthy of consideration, but it is not our overall thrust," he said.

During its hearing in Cape Girardeau -- the last of its public hearings held around the state -- the commission heard more than three hours of ideas for rearranging government functions and changing state policies on issues from social services delivery to road funding.

For Troy Wilson, CEO of Montgomery Bank in Sikeston, the Department of Economic Development is ripe for change. The department has too many duties, he said, including an entire division dedicated to regulating professions ranging from barbers to tattoo artists.

"The Department of Economic Development is too big, to diverse and too unwieldy to be effective," he said.

Under Missouri law, some changes that rearrange functions among existing state agencies can be ordered by the governor. Either chamber of the legislature can cancel the order by a majority vote.

Other changes, such as a suggestion that the state turn over responsibility for thousands of miles of minor roads to local governments, might require voters to adopt a constitutional amendment.

Whatever the commission recommends, Wilson said during his testimony, it can expect criticism. "Everybody is ready to embrace change, willing to see change as long as it affects someone else."

Fourteen members of the 20-member commission, some from as far away as St. Joseph, Mo., attended the Cape Girardeau hearing.

A total of 22 individuals testified and answered questions from commission members.

rkeller@semissourian.com

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