They were told their degrees from universities in their native countries weren't valid here,' Mr. Marin said. They decided to help, and founded InterAmerican College, a nonprofit school where immigrants who were professionals in their native countries are put on a fast track to earn degrees in the United States. Va. - Senior lawmakers today said they will try to kill a proposal to tie college funding to performance measures such as graduation rates, because they believe it would strip the state's colleges of their independence and give too much power to bureaucrats. The State Council of Higher Education is pushing for a system in which Virginia's 15 colleges would compete for new state funding. Several other lawmakers on the House Appropriations Committee also criticized the idea.
Lawmakers covet their ability to direct dollars to various state colleges.
Taft later told reporters that he hopes the Ohio Supreme Court will take the budget into account when it decides later this year whether lawmakers have satisfied the court's order to fix the way Ohio pays for public education. The ceremony at Koebel Elementary School on the south side of Columbus was a picture of bipartisanship.