After slogging through the SUNO-UNO merger debacle, House Speaker Jim Tucker potentially had the roots of two pieces good news this week. Sources close to his two primary Repub­lican opponents in race for Secretary of State, Walker Hines and Tom Schedler, each seemed less enthusiastic about making the race in October. Potentially, there are unconfirmed rumors that both men have begun to consider dropping out and endorsing Tucker.

However, Tucker’s other albatross, the aftermath of the failure of the SUNO-UNO merger, may also evaporate in part by an even more fundamental reform that actually enjoys some African-American support, creating a single board of higher education. The SUNO-UNO failure strained relations with the Black Caucus, of which Tucker was the African-American legislators favored Republican prior to the merger fight, and with the Jindal Administration.

There are those that believe Jindal staffer Paul Rainwater was blamed by Tucker’s allies for having effectively killed the merger by calling Democrats “irresponsible” for denying the governor the use of “one-time money” in this year’s state budget. This made Democrats, already fearing the reaction of their Black constituents, too embittered to help the administration in any way. And that pain rolled off on the House Speaker, who had been one of the biggest defenders of Caucasian Democrats in the recent redistricting.

Now, a victory in a House committee may wipe the legislative slate clean for Tucker as he gears up for a race for Secretary of State in the Fall. Legislation that would form a single super board for higher education in Louisiana cleared the state House’s education committee Tuesday.

This potentially could accomplish the savings in higher education that Jindal sought, while preserving historically Black colleges.

The rural white legislators who have been the usual opponents of such a single board have apparently begun to switch sides.

The House Education Committee voted 10-4 for the measure after three legislators who opposed similar legislation last year voted for the bill this session. House Bill 391 is backed by Gov. Bobby Jindal.

The legislation would form Louisiana Postsecondary Edu­cation Board of Trustees, gubernatorially appointed by Jan. 1, 2013, and would consolidate the state’s four college systems and the top co-coordinating body.

The bill would abolish the Louisiana Board of Regents, the LSU System, the Southern University System, the University of Louisiana System and the Louisiana Community and Technical College System. However, the statute would also mandate an additional “board of governors” for each individual higher education institution, charged with maintaining the individual character of the schools.

The end result would be more boards than exist now, yet one single board would control overall funding. It would prevent multiple upper divisional and graduate programs at neighboring institutions, presumably, through the power of the purse, while the sub-boards would draw the nature of the program. A single board could mandate ease of taking classes at neighboring colleges, on the other hand, which has made merging programs from a practical standpoint difficult.

This is hardly just an academic expertise. As late as the 1990’s, Louisiana had five schools of architecture, for example, each underfunded by national standards, and turning out more Architects than could be employed within the state. Monetarily deficit classes matched with oversupply.

Duplication of graduate programs was one of the underlying arguments of supporters of the UNO-SUNO merger. That both colleges had graduate level programs in education and social work, run separately but only blocks away, brought critiques that the graduate studies could be better funded and offer wider ranging classes if their administration was merger.

The result would have been the demise of an historically Black college, in that plan. Critics of the SUNO-UNO merger noted that all the legislature had to do was make it easier for SUNO or UNO students to take classes at the neighboring colleges and coordinate classes between the two programs to avoid duplications in each semester.

A single board for higher education could, in theory, make that happen while still preserving individual universities.

Proponents of Tucker’s new bill told The Advocate newspaper that changes would streamline and simplify higher education, while critics said the legislation would stymie ongoing reforms without improving anything.

HB391 was not approved until after amendments were added to make mandatory a board membership that represents the state’s racial and gender demographics.

Amendments to the legislation also reform require tuition increase votes. They would not only need to receive approval from a majority of the legislature, instead of the two-thirds under the law today.

Because of the cost of transitioning from multiple boards to a single board, the legislation also needs support of the House Com­mittee on Appropriations before the entire House can vote on the legislation. Though, with Tucker’s support, that is expected.

Public higher education in Louisiana includes 14 public universities, nine community colleges, seven technical colleges, two law schools, two agricultural centers, two medical schools, and the state’s hospital system.

One super board would create a “better coordinated effort in attaining our goals,” House Speaker Tucker told the Committee members of the bill he sponsored.

The three legislators who voted in favor of the single board this time — and against it last year — were state Reps. Bubba Chaney, R-Rayville; Rickey Hardy, D-Lafayette; and John Schroder, R-Covington.

In the committee hearing, it was amazing to see how the tense relationship that had developed previously between the Administration and the Speaker seemed to evaporate. Kristy Nichols, Jindal’s deputy chief of staff, said the legislation would allow the state to “set a single policy vision” for higher ed, becoming more financially efficient, while avoiding the current “layers and layers of bureaucracy.”

Nichols said Louisiana’s six-year college graduation rates are below 40 percent, the second lowest in the Southern region.

However, there were critics within the University administration as well. LSU System President John Lombardi maintained that little or no evidence shows that consolidating boards accomplishes anything or saves any money.

”This doesn’t seem particularly more streamlined than what we have today,”

Lombardi went on to colorfully note referencing the individual boards of governors for institutions, “I don’t know what the hell that does.”

Lombardi reasoned that student achievement measured higher. “The received wisdom is none of them (college structures) are any good,” he said. “No one likes the one they’ve got.”

Schroder, who opposed the legislation last time around, turned on Lombardi, “I don’t think there would be many changes if we didn’t poke you, prod you, tick you off and force you to do things.”

Opponents of the LSU President observed that the single board would end the lead University’s policy of having academic programs on every topic. Some might migrate to neighboring Southern University, others to schools around the state.

However, the new State Com­missioner of Higher Educa-tion argued to the committee, “The (current) coordinated governance is working.” Jim Purcell noted the progress of tougher admissions standards, performance-based funding, statewide transfer policies, and accountability and graduation rate goals set through last year’s LA GRAD Act legislation.

Tucker not only won Schroder but also had some grudging acceptance from one of his key critics, Rep. John Bel Edwards. The Democrat from Amite had previously castigated verbage in HB391 that would allow for college mergers with majority legislative consent, rather than the current two-thirds approval.

The SUNO-UNO merger only failed because of the supermajority threshold.

The Speaker, breaking with the Jindal Administration here in favor of the Black and rural caucuses helped move an amendment that in HB391 that would require two-thirds approval of both chambers, before any mergers could happen—as current law states.

Since HB391 is a constitutional amendment, Tucker has the high threshold of 2/3 of the House and Senate before it can go on the ballot. If passed by the legislature, the amendment would go to the public for a vote on Oct. 22—the same day that Jim Tucker would be on the ballot, running for Secretary of State.

HB391 calls for a single, 14-member board appointed by the governor, except for the one student member of the board, though, there may be amendments when this reaches the House floor which would call for a 16-member board, but appointed from six congressional seats, rather than the 14 from seven. (The state loses a congressional district by 2012, thanks to the 2010 census.)

Tucker ultimately did not win Edwards’ vote to exit the legislation out of committee, and saw the opposition of Rep. Patricia Smith, the Black Caucus member from Baton Rouge so vocally against the SUNO-UNO merger. However, the Speaker may be able, according to some insiders, to gain some votes in the Black Caucus for this Amendment.

Some African-American colleges actually stand to gain funds under the single board, though many Black legislators worry the opposite would happen.

Nevertheless, the Speaker would be able to state that he brought real reform in higher ed without the racial overtones of ending SUNO. Win or lose, it is a much-improved position for Tucker than he experienced just two weeks ago.

This story originally published in the June 06, 2011 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.