The Kansas Board of Regents defied Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and state lawmakers Monday and submitted a proposed budget that called for a 4 percent increase in funding for higher education for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2009.

In the face of a looming state budget shortfall and a slowing economy, Sebelius asked the board in June to pare spending by a total of 7 percent over the next two fiscal years, a move that was applauded by legislators and taxpayer groups.

Rather than complying with the governor’s request, however, university officials launched a campaign to portray worst-case scenarios that would result if the spending reductions requested by Sebelius were enacted.

Kansas State University President John Wefald, in a letter to the board, said the reduction in spending requested by the governor would “permanently change the teaching, research and service programs we currently provide."

Wefald also said, “A reduction of this magnitude will mean that we would teach about 400 fewer class sections during the coming academic year – which results in larger class sizes, heavier faculty teaching loads and a reduction in the quality of our teaching program."

University of Kansas Chancellor Robert Hemenway said KU would have to reduce spending by $10.8 million at its Lawrence campus and by $8.5 million at its medical center in Wichita. That reduction would be roughly equivalent to eliminating the entire budgets for the KU School of Law and the School of Pharmacy, Hemenway said.

Rep. Mike O’Neal, a Hutchinson Republican and vice-chair of the House Education Budget Committee, told Kansas Liberty that he believed regents were engaging in a “sky is falling” exercise.

“It’s like they’re saying if you want us to cut something, how about we start with the jugular?” O’Neal said.

Alan Cobb, executive director of the Kansas chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a taxpayer watchdog organization, agreed that university officials were purposely painting a doomsday scenario.

“In Washington, it’s called the Washington Monument syndrome – where if you cut spending they’ll have to close the monument,” he said.

In a statement to Kansas Liberty, Nicole Corcoran, spokesperson for Sebelius, said the regents’ request was “part of the normal budget process.”

“The Division of the Budget will review submitted budgets and respond back to the agencies in November.  The governor will then begin to work on putting her budget together in time for the State of the State; we won’t have any more specifics until that time.”

Sen. Chris Steineger, a Kansas City Democrat and a frequent critic of the board's spending decisions, said he wasn’t surprised at this latest development.

“I believe university administrators just don’t get it,” he said. “They are apparently incapable of running our universities in a way that we can afford.”

Steineger said a backlash over the budget request could signal the beginning of a new era in university administration in Kansas.

“I think we’re reaching a time when the era of our university presidents and provosts coming from academia is going to be over,” he said. “We need to recruit our university leaders from the business community. We need people who are familiar with running a large enterprise, staying within a budget, encouraging private investment and growing the customer base.

“The cost of a college education in America has dramatically increased over the past decade, far exceeding the rate of inflation and the ability of the customers to pay for it,” Steineger added.

Steineger said he would be accompanying Cobb on a three-city tour this weekend that AFP is calling the “Put a Lid on It” tou

O’Neal said he believed Sebelius’ request that spending be reduced was commendable given the state’s budget situation.

“The math doesn’t lie,” he said. “We’re looking at a $195 million deficit in fiscal year 2010, and, when education is consuming 64 or 65 cents of every state dollar, we have no choice but to look at cuts.”

O'Neal said he did not believe there would be any appetite among legislators for tax increases and that the state by law must have a balanced budget, so spending cuts would probably be the only alternative available to the Kansas Legislature to close the budget gap.

Spending cuts won’t come without some pain and sacrifice, and some programs he has favored in the past might be delayed or nixed altogether, O’Neal said.

“I supported an expansion of the School of Pharmacy at KU because we have a severe shortage of pharmacists in the state," he added, "but I’m not sure we’re going to be able to get that done now.”

The Week in Review