BMCC President ‘cautiously optimistic’ about HECC approval of new formula

PENDLETON — After the Higher Education Coordinating Commission announced it approved a redesign to how local and state taxpayer funds are distributed to Oregon’s 17 community colleges, Blue Mountain Community College President Mark Browning said he was cautiously optimistic about what it could mean for the college.

“This effort goes back to the last time they changed the formula in the 1990s,” Browning said. “For a number of years, performance-based funding models were all the rage, but the issue with performance funding is like the students, you wonder, how do I make the grade?”