Groups battle for state influence
By Sandy Johnstone
Of th« Emerald
The Oregon Educational Coor
dinating Commission and the Oregon
State System of Higher Education are
squaring off in the battle for in
fluence on the state Legislature.
Both groups are out to protect
educational interests from their
perspectives. In the past, they both
have struggled to gain the ear of the
Legislature — the state system to get
more money to improve programs
and the ECC to maintain equilibrium
between the interests of higher
education and other educational
institutions.
The balance is uneasy at best.
The ECC, established in 1975 as
the "watchdog" of state public
education, has the authority to review
programs and the state board budget
and to advise the governor and
Legislature about policy
implications.
Such watchdog powers don't
please state board members who are
responsible for setting policy for the
eight higher education institutions in
Oregon.
"There are some who feel that hav
ing a lay board with authority over
another lay board is not a good idea,”
says Bob Ingalls, state board
president.
Les Anderson, a former board
member and former Eugene mayor, is
“very critical" of the ECC He says
one reason he resigned his state
board seat was his frustration with
the ECC.
“I think the ECC is overstaffed,
overzealous and sand in the gears of
the governmental machine,” says
Anderson. “It stands with a magnify
ing glass and looks at what the board
does."
"I don't know of anyone who likes
to have someone looking over the
shoulder, whether it is when you are
at home with the newspaper or if it's
between government agencies," says
T.K. Olson, ECC executive director.
"The ECC is bound to have a different
perspective than the agency which
actually provides the educational
services.”
Anderson says a different perspec
tive may be needed
"I think it's unnecessary. It places
a barrier between the boards respon
sible for administrative and institu
tional policy and the Legislature," he
says.
In the past the ECC and the State
Board of Higher Education have battl
ed it out over budget-related
concerns.
"Their review of the budget where
there is no intersegmental effect is
inappropriate," says board member
Edward Harms
The ECC adopted a critical view
toward the OSSHE s 1982-83 budget
recommendation, which Olson says
is inconsistent with the Legislature’s
State system officials responded in
a legislative report by saying the ECC
was ‘second-guessing’’ the system's
activities.
“The state system did not ap
preciate those judgments.” says
Olson. "We were critical and from
point of view of the system I suppose
that was second-guessing. But from
the commission's view, we were do
ing what we were told to do.
"If (the ECC) says everything is not
all right in ‘River City,' the conclu
sions of (the OSSHE) is that the com
mission can't understand the real issue
or is malevolent, has some hidden
agenda to hurt them.' says Olson. It is
almost inevitable.'
But rather than blaming each other,
members from both agencies use the
Legislature as a convenient
scapegoat
"You can argue the Legislature
should not have told us to (review the
budget), but you can't argue the com
mission is not doing its job," says
Olson
Anderson agrees the Legislature
may be at fault and says many
legislators depend on the ECC for all
their information,
"It’s a way of passing the buck
from the Legislature to the ECC
without getting into a real examina
tion of the issues," says Anderson.
Sen Vera Katz says she relies more
heavily on information from the ECC
then from that of the State Board,
because she says it is "more
neutral."
"There is some conflict, but it is
healthy tension. The ECC is there to
keep the State Board honest," Katz
says.
Other legislators agree.
The ECC’s role may change during,
or after, this legislative session.
Although it takes no legislative ac
tion to maintain the ECC, a recent
senate bill recommends enlargement
of the ECC’s powers in reviewing
state system programs and in recom
mending a statewide plan to the 1985
Legislature.
Olson says the extension of power
is "more in theory than in practice."
He says only seldom would most
agencies — such as the OSSHE — be
out of alignment with any ECC-propsed
long-range plan
Ingalls had no comment on the bill,
but he did say he would like to see
ECC member act as budgetary ad
visers to the Legislative Fiscal Office.
"At this point I’m not too sure how
to go about revising the role of the
ECC," says Rijken. He says it’s impor
tant that the Legislature have an in
dependent body oversee the budget
to ensure that the educational agen
cies present a true picture of the
monetary needs.
Not so, says Anderson.
“I think the ECC could be abandon
ed, and no one would know the
difference."
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