March 19, 2013
Legislative action on higher education budget
The Kansas House of Representatives and the Kansas Senate will both debate appropriations bills this week at the State Capitol.
The House bill makes the following reductions to higher education:
- Reduce longevity payment funding $1 million
- Wage and salary cap $18.1 million
- 4 percent State General Fund reduction $29.2 million
- Fee sweep $1 million
- 70 percent reduction for vacant FTEs
The Senate bill makes the following reductions to higher education:
- 2 percent State General Fund reduction $15.2 million
The House Education Budget Committee held a special meeting to discuss the House proposed salary cap. Kansas State University vice president of research, Ron Trewyn, and other representatives from state universities testified the salary cap provision would be extremely detrimental to the operations of the university. In his testimony, Trewyn said, “Salaries are paid from a variety of funding sources, many of which are not from the state general fund. In addition the multiple sources of funding are growing and a salary freeze could have the potential of restricting employment growth.”
The universities brought forward concerns on this provision, in the event the Budget Committee could potentially remove the provision in debate on the House floor.
Finally the university is continuing to ask for support from the local legislative delegation, alumni and other stakeholders to remove the proposed budget cuts and restore stable funding for higher education in Kansas.