The Board of Trustees approved the Doctor of Education degree and reviewed the budget for the next biennium at its meeting March 2.

The new degree for the Pott College of Science, Engineering and Education is scheduled to be implemented during the  fall of 2017.

The degree requires a minimum of 60 credit hours for students with a master’s degree in education, and courses will be offered both online and in-person.

The Board’s approval will move to the Indiana Commission for Higher Education for an official vote on implementation.

The Board said it hopes the degree will prepare more qualified leaders to help fill administrator vacancies across the state.

The Board also reviewed the next biennial budget for 2017-2019, which passed through the Indiana House of Representatives and made its way to the Senate with a hearing  March 7.

“I am concerned with how the performance funding metrics are going,” President Linda Bennett said.

The Performance Funding Formulas, which help in determining the amount of state funding for each budget, calculated a much higher revenue source than what was passed by the House.

This includes nearly $2 million less in general Repair and Rehabilitation as well as no funding for STEM initiatives compared to the university budget submission for the biennium.

“I don’t think a lot of [state legislators] understand the intricacies of the budget,” said Vice President for Government and University Relations Cindy Brinker. “It’s the issue of reallocation that has been most troubling.”

The House did pass funding for Phase II of the PAC classroom expansion. The $41 million budget will include $20 million in cash funding, plus $1,649,560 in annual debt service for the remaining $21 million beginning in the fiscal year of 2019.

The comparison of the budget submission with the Indiana Commission for Higher Education recommendation, the Governor’s budget and the House Ways and Means budget can be found at www.usi.edu/trustee/.