Study Committee On The Review Of Wisconsin Technical College System Funding And Governance PDF Download

2013 marked the year Wisconsin was finally impacted by the decades-long national accountability movement for higher education. The legislature passed Act 20, a first of its kind policy that exclusively targeted the states' 16 two-year technical colleges to earn a portion of their funding based on a set of outcome measures. With intentions of upskilling individuals and incumbent workers along with enrolling and credentialing more students in high-demand fields (Kelchen, 2013), the higher education funding scheme in this state continues. Wisconsin is currently one of 41 states that have implemented or established performance-based funding policies (Ortagus, J. C., Kelchen, R., Rosinger, K., & Voorhees, N. (2020). The technical colleges have been impacted by this alternative funding phenomenon. Existing literature shows some of those effects, such as financial, mirror results observed in other states' implementations such as Tennessee or Washington (Dougherty and Reddy, 2011). Other impacts appear to be unique. Utilizing a qualitative methodology, single case study, and a phenomenological framework, this investigation used guided narrative interviews, with administrators from one Wisconsin technical college, to gain understanding about the impacts of outcomes-based funding (OBF) and what dynamics played into those outcomes. The college studied was part of a one hundred plus year-old system that enrolls 250,000 students annually (WTCS, 2020). The findings from this study revealed three main themes-- communication; the value of collaboration, data, and reporting; and consequences of decisions. Findings also surfaced seven areas of impact from operating under OBF for several years - strategic planning, physical and organizational structures, graduated funding increases, improved decision-making, intended/unintended consequences, surprises, and opportunities/adjustments.