Florida Board of Governors

04/05/2012

ACTIONS TAKEN: Meeting of the Strategic Planning Committee, Florida Board of Governors, April 5

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—April 5, 2012

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—The Strategic Planning Committee held a meeting via conference call today in order to follow up on the Board of Governors’ extensive discussion at its regular March meeting and to finalize the “work plan template” that universities will utilize to present information to the Board of Governors each year. The step taken today marks a major milestone in the development of a “three-part framework of accountability” for the State University System.

The template for the Universities’ 3-Year Work Plans – formally approved by the Strategic Planning Committee today – constitutes the third and final of three products intertwined in order to provide one of the most robust, meaningful and user-friendly accountability frameworks of any public university system in the nation. The Universities’ 3-Year Work Plans will include key performance indicators looking forward, including but not limited to a university’s top priorities in the short-term, as well as that institution’s “return on investment” – commonly called ROI – from State funding. The work plan template has been designed to review current actual data alongside a three-year rolling set of out-year goals presented by the universities that will focus on three areas: Strategy, Key Performance Indicators, and Operations.

The Board of Governors will utilize the Universities’ 3-Year Work Plans – together with the Board’s Strategic Plan 2012-2025 and its Annual Accountability Report – to better advocate for all 11 institutions based on this holistic “framework of accountability.”

The Strategic Planning Committee is chaired by Chris Corr of Jacksonville.
Committee members:
Chair Chris Corr – present
Vice Chair John Rood – present
Joe Caruncho – present
(Board Chair) Dean Colson – present
Patricia Frost – present
Ava Parker – absent
Tico Perez – present
Rick Yost – present

Chair Corr invited the committee members to offer comments on the template that all 11 institutions each will present to the Board of Governors at its regular June meeting. Since this is the first template created for the relatively new annual presentations, and because it contains a series of additional metrics beyond those in other products, Chair Corr reviewed some of the changes in the template draft that have been made with the ongoing feedback from Board members and the universities. Several committee members recommended additional refinements during the conference call. The committee then took a vote to approve the template.

The “three-part framework of accountability” is comprised of:
1. The Board of Governors’ Strategic Plan, 2012-2025, for the State University System. Developed in an 18-month period with numerous stakeholders, it was finalized and released in November 2011.
2. The Annual Accountability Report, transformed from two volumes into 27 pages, now contains key comparative data for the State University System and important financial information, as well as supplemental information about historical state funding components. The 2010-11 Annual Accountability Report with the new format was released in January 2012. A brand-new interactive dashboard also allows a user to retrieve performance data on multiple institutions at once. The Annual Accountability Report also fulfills more than six separate annual reporting requirements in Florida law.
3. The Universities’ 3-year Work Plans template. This document will demonstrate each institution’s contribution to meeting the goals and outcomes in the Board of Governors’ Strategic Plan and also provide “critical ROI information that the members of the Board of Governors need to have in a more accessible format,” Chair Corr noted. Each university will present its 3-year Work Plan at the regular June meeting of the Board of Governors. Additional information will be sent to the media in late May.

To view the Board of Governors’ Strategic Plan and the list of 2025 outcomes that runs on pages 19-22: www.flbog.edu/pressroom/news.php?id=422
To view the Board of Governors’ 2010-11 Annual Accountability Report, including the transmittal letter forwarding the report to Gov. Rick Scott and the Legislature: www.flbog.edu/pressroom/news.php?id=429
The Universities’ 3-year Work Plans will be available in early June.

Chair Corr facilitated an informal discussion about the Board of Governors’ Strategic Plan and noted the diligent work of the committee in finalizing the document last fall. He asked for the committee members and the university presidents present to take time to discuss steps taken to date, and to offer thoughts about next steps – including university work plans and key performance metrics.

After extensive discussion, Chair Corr said the committee will focus on the performance metrics that will measure progress toward both the System’s and the universities’ goals. “The magic is in the metrics,” said Chair Corr, who noted that determining the right metrics is imperative – as well as ensuring the metrics for the university work plans are clear, understandable and aligned with the Strategic Plan. He said that the 28 metrics in the Strategic Plan need to now be more granular for next steps and to approach the entire exercise in a holistic way. Chancellor Brogan said staff will work with the institutions and the provosts on the University Work Plan template. Chair Colson made a motion to accept the template draft presented at the committee meeting, subject to consultation and changes made with the university provosts and with the approval of Chair Corr. Mr. Rood asked that a meeting of the full committee by phone be held before June so that all of the committee members could review the final draft as soon as possible. The committee agreed with these steps.

Chair Corr said he is looking forward to continuing to build the framework of accountability. He emphasized that any time we need to recalibrate items in the documents already produced, he wants to keep that door open.

TIMELINE: At-a-glance recap of the past two years in building the Board of Governors’ three-part framework of accountability:

• The Board of Governors established a performance-based “dashboard” with key metrics, added to the then-annual report, which had a very different document format;
• The Board of Governors had the universities produce annual "university work plans," with detailed forward-looking information for the Board of Governors to better understand both their unique challenges and visions – the work plans were 11 documents, and the Board today is moving toward having a consistent template introduced that universities would utilize for their June presentations;
• The Board of Governors took up the universities’ Legislative Budget Requests earlier in its deliberations in 2011 (early summer), so that that info arrives at the Board the same time as the work plans – this is both for improved efficiency and to increase the members’ meaningful review time long before the Board submits an LBR for the State University System (each fall);
• The Board of Governors in November 2011 finalized a new Strategic Plan (2012-2025) featuring 28 separate metrics focused on productivity and excellence, which other states are even now inquiring about. These 28 metrics will be part of the next iteration of the dashboard, expanding next year’s accountability metrics;
• The Board of Governors at its January 2012 meeting presented a very different looking Annual Accountability Report that takes what was previously two major volumes of information (including 11 sections that required cross-referencing in the past) into a streamlined 26-page document providing the key metrics and standing across the System.

About the State University System of Florida
The State University System of Florida is governed by a 17-member Board of Governors, a constitutional body and led by appointed public servants. The System is comprised of 11 institutions with a total enrollment of nearly 330,000 students, making it the second-largest public university system in the nation in terms of enrollment (some states have more than one university system). The Florida Constitution (Article IX, Section 7) was amended by the state's voters in 2002 to establish a statewide system of governance for all Florida public universities. As a result, the Florida Board of Governors was created in 2003 to oversee the State University System of Florida. Responsibilities include defining the distinctive mission of each institution and ensuring the well-planned coordination and operation of the System. The Board’s 17 members include 14 appointed by the Governor, with three serving by virtue of their designations (a faculty member, a Florida Student Association student representative, and the Florida Commissioner of Education). The Board of Governors appoints a Chancellor who serves as the chief executive and administrative officer of the State University System. For more, including the Board’s Annual Report that reflects accountability measurements and benchmarks occurring at each institution, see www.flbog.edu.