Chaney Ferguson
The Times of SWLA
In the spring and summer of 2007, the original agenda for Blueprint Louisiana was formed. It is a citizen-driven endeavor to pinpoint and execute necessary changes to improve Louisiana.
“Blueprint Louisiana was developed a couple of years ago, actually, the year before the last election cycle in the hopes of getting legislators to sign on to an agenda for good government ideas,” said Dennis Stine, President and CEO, Stine Lumber Co. Stine is also a member of the Blueprint Louisiana steering committee.
“The thought process is if enough signed on we would have a majority or super-majority of legislators supporting agenda ideas when they ran for office,” Stine said. “Once they got elected they would support those items.”
Stine states that in 2007, approximately 82% of the members of the State Senate and 71% of the members of the House of Representatives signed the original contract to support the Blueprint Agenda.
In addition to pursuing the original agenda, Blueprint will advocate for the “New Economy” section: Create a Knowledge-Based, Innovation-Driven Economy.
According to www.blueprintlouisiana.org, Louisiana must begin now to build and position its economy to grow and thrive in the years and decades ahead. This involves two steps.
The first step targets education: A shift to a performance-based formula to fund higher education to reward the results we need to transform our economy.
“I think in the entire state, higher education is currently funded by what they call a student credit hour system where if students enroll and they take so many credit hours the university is funded by receiving funds for how many credit hours they have in particular programs,” Stine said.
According to Stine, all universities, including McNeese, have a very low graduation rate after five or six years. A student enrolls in a particular program, but due to various reasons, does not finish that program.
“We want to create an incentive program that says let’s put the emphasis on getting people degrees and certificates so they can go make a living and support their families,” Stine said.
“What we want to do is develop a program in our state that’s a performance based funding system. It gives credit to universities for having folks that go into the higher educational system, finish programs or attain some type of degree certificate,” Stine said.
Stine thinks that although a change of that nature will have to be phased in, it will bode well for the citizens of our state.
“It’s not simply about getting the individual into college it’s about helping them finish their program,” said Stine. “It’s about success for the individual.”
The second step is: create a Louisiana Research Alliance (modeled after highly successful research alliance organizations in other states) to guide state investments to support diversification and growth of Louisiana’s economy.
The agenda states that in today’s world, economic development and postsecondary education must be directly linked.
“We are looking for centers of excellence in one of our programs and in that center of excellence we are looking for our area to be known for energy production,” said Stine. “If anyone in the state wants to be involved in the energy field of our state they would come to Southwest Louisiana to have their training.”
BlueprintLouisiana.org outlines a solution for implementing step two. The key is to efficiently use state resources to build new innovative sectors which require investments in targeted growth areas.
Specifically, Louisiana must recruit world-class researchers who will bring and attract federal research funds and talented graduate students. These researchers will develop technology that can be licensed to new and existing companies.
Finally, the state must invest in systems to move new technology from university labs into Louisiana companies.
“The second section is recommended to be a study this year enabling legislation to create that study group and monitor its progress,” Stine said.
Funding for the program will come from the state and businesses. “It’s everyone working together to create jobs in our state,” said Stine.
Blueprint Louisiana is exactly what its name says. It is a blueprint to outline incentives for the state to follow.
“I know Mayor Randy Roach talks about success in a region, and if a region can improve then the city improves,” said Stine. “The same can be said about our state. If the state can improve then each region improves.”
Stine stated that if Louisiana has good government reform then each region will be better for it, and begin to see those improvements. Blueprint Louisiana is looking to implement those reforms through the original agenda items and the two new additions. The members of the organization will push for the “New Economy” component in the upcoming legislative session.
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