The recommendations came in a report halfway through a fiscal year in which Mr. Christie cut state operating aid for higher education by $130 million as he sought to close an $11 billion budget gap. But he has pledged to increase financing for the state’s colleges and universities as the economy improves.
“In many ways, this report confirms what we all know: New Jersey’s higher education system is in need of focused improvement if it is truly going to serve our students and prepare our state for the future,” the governor said in a statement. He appeared with the task force chairman, former Gov. Thomas H. Kean, in a news conference in Trenton on the recommendations.
In an echo of a battle just waged and lost in New York, the New Jersey task force urged the state to let Rutgers and the other public colleges and universities set their own tuition levels “appropriate to raise the funds needed to support their operations and maintain educational excellence.” In New York, Gov. David A. Paterson and officials of the state university system had sought such a change, but it was blocked by the Legislature.
A spokesman for Mr. Christie, Kevin Roberts, said after the news conference that the governor would evaluate the issue. The governor has already endorsed a plan to give college administrations authority to negotiate labor agreements. “It needs to be addressed in a holistic way that gives college presidents more control and flexibility over management of their institutions,” Mr. Roberts said.
Other recommendations in the 140-page report, which was given to Mr. Christie on Dec. 1 but made public on Tuesday, included the creation of a five-member council on higher education. While acknowledging the current budget crisis, the task force also called on the state to increase financing as soon as possible, by issuing bonds. The report did not specify a sum.
Mr. Christie signed two executive orders during the conference, one to create the council and another to form an advisory committee focused solely on graduate medical education.
The task force proposed merging some schools of the University of Medicine and Dentistry with Rutgers, a move that has previously been rejected. As the United States attorney for New Jersey, Mr. Christie pursued criminal fraud charges against the University of Medicine and Dentistry, which was faced with financial and Medicaid abuses. But the school agreed to a federal monitor to avoid prosecution.
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