Brenda Blagg writes an op-ed piece up in NWA every Tuesday. Brenda Blagg is not one of those flame throwing right or left editorialist. What she does is opine with reaseach and logic as her basis and in my opinion one of the best and least acknowledge and appreciated in the state. Here she’s asking can Beebe take some of the state funding for colleges and tie it to it’s graduation percentages. Wow, accountablity? I hope the Governor can, it would be nice to see that higher education had to adhere to some of the benchmarks and accountability that us normal folks have to do in our jobs and daily lives.

The question is: Can Gov. Mike Beebe carry his rhetoric into action?

The governor, speaking in Fayetteville last week, alerted the state’s colleges and universities to a planned change in the way they get their money from the state.

It can’t happen immediately but Beebe told administrators they might as well get ready. The governor wants the formula for funding higher education altered to reward retention and graduation.

That’s a problem in Arkansas. While the number of college-going students has increased to levels competitive with other states, comparatively fewer Arkansas students stay in school and get degrees.

The 2000 U.S. Census ranked this state 49th in the nation with adults 25 or older with bachelor’s or more advanced college degrees. Only West Virginia had fewer graduates in its adult population than Arkansas. The Census figures showed that, out of every 100 Arkansas adults, something like 17 held a college degree.

By comparison, closer to half of all adults in Arkansas had started college. That rate, too, is less here than in other states with which Arkansas competes for jobs, but the gap isn’t as great as it is among those who get degrees.