BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - It was a quiet exit for Jim Purcell.
Purcell, who served as commissioner of higher education for three years, walked away from the job March 20 with little fanfare.
The Advocate reports (https://bit.ly/1hJhcTY ) that Purcell’s exit was so low-key that a number of lawmakers, including a few who sit on the Legislature’s education committees, didn’t immediately know he was gone.
Still, his decision not to seek a new contract was no surprise.
Gov. Bobby Jindal’s staff had unsuccessfully tried to get him fired last year because of his complaints about steep budget cuts that coincided with his tenure. Republican legislators came to Purcell’s defense, and the state Board of Regents ultimately decided to support Purcell.
State Rep. John Bel Edwards, D-Amite, and member of the House Education Committee, said it would be unfortunate if Purcell, an Alabama native who has held administrative positions throughout the South, is remembered as the commissioner who was in place when Jindal and the Legislature stripped higher education of $700 million in state funding.
“He didn’t advocate for the cuts; he fought them … He spoke out when other people were getting fired for doing so,” Edwards said. “Maybe he wasn’t transformational, but we don’t know what he could’ve been. The reality of the situation required him to spend all of his time thinking about how to deal with budget cuts, rather than thinking of new strategies.”
State Rep. Patricia Smith, D-Baton Rouge, also is a member of the House Education Committee. She described Purcell as someone who came in and took seriously the task of distributing higher education dollars among the state’s four college and university systems.
She said Purcell did it impartially and based on performance. She also credited Purcell with working to strengthen the state’s community and technical colleges - recognizing the need to prepare students for the workforce or to get them ready to transfer to a four-year campus.
“He had a vision, but a lot of the things he proposed didn’t go anywhere. He didn’t have the backing of the administration,” Smith said. “I think he recognized it was time for him to move on. I’m sorry to see him go.”
As commissioner of higher education, Purcell’s job was to work with the state Board of Regents to guide higher education policy in the state. During his time in Louisiana, Purcell proposed a number of ideas, mostly centered around giving colleges and universities more authority to operate like businesses.
However, those ideas died when presented to a Legislature that has been historically reluctant to give up some of its control over higher education - in particular the power to set tuition.
“Keep in mind, my job was to speak for the board. The board felt that funding was the biggest issue,” Purcell said from the Regents headquarters during his last week in Baton Rouge. “Over time, you have to get people to understand what the issues are. It may take more than one session.”
Despite growing class sizes, declining research funding from the federal government and significant staff turnover, Purcell said there is still hope for Louisiana’s colleges and universities.
“It will take strong support from the Legislature and the governor for the next several (legislative) sessions before our institutions are back in a position to compete nationally,” he said.
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Information from: The Advocate, https://theadvocate.com
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