After only two months since the legislation was introduced, the Illinois House of Representatives passed the bill for outcomes-based funding unanimously on Tuesday. The bill will now advance to the Illinois Senate for further consideration.

Rep. Chapin Rose filed House Bill 1503 on Feb. 14, aiming to reform state funding for Illinois colleges and universities by appropriating state monies based on how the school performs at certain criteria, including retention rates, graduation and academics.

Now that his version of the bill has passed through the House, Rose feels a small sense of relief.

“No doubt, I’m relieved,” Rose said. “My top three bills are all moving to the Senate. It’s a good feeling. I get an even bigger sense of relief that the bill passed unanimously (in the House).”

In evaluating schools for outcomes-based funding, the IBHE and universities will come together to agree on the terms, Rose said.

“Some schools will be based on rankings, some will be based on retention. The nice thing about this is it’s not a one-size fits all,” Rose said.

To specify, only four to five percent of a universities’ appropriated funds would be outcomes-based.

“It’s just enough to gently push things in the right direction, but still have a strong basis for support,” Rose said.”However, this would ultimately be a decision that would be made by the IBHE.”

President Bill Perry has been a supporter of this method since last year. In August, Perry wrote a letter to the Finance Study Commission highlighting his main reasons for pushing this effort.

In his letter, Perry notes Eastern only received $4,566 per full-time student in 2008, based on university figures. This is the lowest of state funding among the six four-year public master’s institutions in Illinois. However, Eastern had the highest student retention rate and the second highest graduate rate among the six institutions that same year.

Perry also testified on behalf of outcomes-based funding in front of the Senate Appropriations II Committee on March 9.

Both Rose and Chicago Democrat Sen. Edward Maloney, who has introduced similar legislation, will continue to push their individual bills in hopes one will ultimately be signed into law by Gov. Pat Quinn.

“We usually try to position both bills on the governor’s desk. This way he’ll likely veto one and sign the other,” Rose said.

The bill will now advance to the Senate for further consideration.

Rose doesn’t foresee any obstacles when it comes to the Senate passing the bill. However, “five weeks to move all the bills that need to be moved is not a lot of time,” Rose said.

Shelley Holmgren can be reached at 581-2812 or meholmgren@eiu.edu