It happens every session: lawmakers, seeing the quarter of a billion dollar price tag on TOPS, look for ways to tweak the college scholarship program. This time, they might succeed.
“By establishing a ‘baseline’ tuition, future tuition increases will not be reflected in the state budget,” says Senate Finance committee chairman Jack Donahue, who is the author of Senate Bill 48. “This will allow the legislature to do a better job predicting the overall cost.
Donahue’s SB 48 will uncouple TOPS from college and university tuition increases. The measure’s co-author is Senate Education chairman Conrad Appel.
“We’ve got to maintain TOPS for the future, and we’ve got to control the exponential growth of costs,” says Appel.
So why does this proposal have a chance when every other effort to tame TOPS has failed? It’s not solely because the Louisiana is facing a $1.6-billion budget deficit. The difference this time is the support of Phyllis Taylor.
“Senate Bill 48 will have benefits for TOPS going forward,” said Taylor at a Board of Regents’ press conference Tuesday.
Taylor is the widow of Patrick F. Taylor, who conceived the free college tuition program in New Orleans in the late 1980s. TOPS is now named for him, as the “Taylor Opportunity Program for Students.”
Until now, every time proposed legislation sought to limit the scholarships, Phyllis Taylor would show up at the Capitol and voice her objections to the changes. What changed her mind this time?
“The state of Louisiana is definitely facing financial constraints, so it was incumbent upon us, I believe, to try to figure out a way to preserve TOPS,” Taylor explained. “I picked up the battle flag for the TOPS program with the death of my husband, Pat Taylor. I have no intention of forgoing that battle at this time—or any time.”
Taylor says she will continue to fight to keep TOPS paying for full tuition, even after SB 48 passes.
“The Patrick F. Taylor Foundation will continue to monitor the program, and to seek increases in those times when tuition is raised,” she clarified.
The Board of Regents and all the state’s higher education boards are backing this bill, and partner legislation by Donahue that would remove legislative oversight from tuition increases. But what about the governor? Where does he stand on this proposal?
“We have spoken with the governor and his staff about this,” Taylor said. “They have asked questions, and we have answered those questions, making it clear this is establishing a baseline, not placing a cap on TOPS. We wait now, for his determination.”