HIGHER ED FACING SIGNIFICANT BUDGET CHALLENGES IN 2010
Declining state revenues and skyrocketing health care costs have higher education in the funding crosshairs.

Recently, the Kansas Board of Regents brought this problem to light in a series of Business and Industry presentations around the state. To see their Power Point Presentation click here.

Following the presentation, The Johnson County Sun newspaper featured two commentaries based on the Regents’ report. The first is by Publisher Steve Rose, the second by Robert Sigman, Opinion Page Editor.

If you believe higher education should be more of a priority, please contact your state legislators.
WE'RE GETTING IT ALL WRONG
WRITTEN BY STEVE ROSE, PUBLISHER
THE JOHNSON COUNTY SUN
WEDNESDAY, 18 NOVEMBER 2009

Kansas is going in exactly the wrong direction.
  The expert consultants who just completed their report on the metropolitan Kansas City area told us what we need to do to move forward.

“Time To Get It Right” – a five year update since the first report – has made one overarching point in its 62-page analysis.

And here it is verbatim: “A more concerted and effective strategy needs to be developed and implemented to convince the state governments of Missouri and Kansas about the importance of higher education as absolutely critical to the future of their states – particularly during the post-recession period.”

That is not only easier said than done, but in light of the cutbacks in both states, a lofty goal might just be to stop from slipping further backward.

Missouri is a waste of time in this discussion. It ranks 45th in the nation in the least funding per capita for higher education.

Says the report, “Missouri has remained largely moored in a backwater when it comes to support of higher education.”

My, what a contrast with Kansas, ranked 17th, but we could be slipping fast. There is a discernible drip, drip, drip of leaking state funding for higher education, and the trend line looks terrible.

Not long ago, Kansas provided the majority of funding for our universities. The rest was made up of tuitions and private contributions.

This year, for the first time, tuitions will make up the majority of funding, while state funding has slipped to only 25 percent.

Why is this happening?

The critical point may be the attitude in the state Legislature that higher education is just not a high priority. Many legislators think college is for the elite, i.e. the rich. (There is also an attitude that, “If I can make it without college, so can they.”). And it has been easy to just shift the burden from all Kansas taxpayers to just those going to college.

Since 1985, state government has grown by 54 percent, while state university support has grown by a measly 5 percent.

So, backwater legislators in Kansas who want to mimic Missouri have decided that the burden should be put more and more on Kansas families to send their kids to college.

In other words, higher education is looked at as a luxury, not as an investment in our future.

Short-sightedness and a bad attitude are making our universities less affordable. That, in turn, will make the wish come true. Our public colleges really will be only for the elite.

While “Time To Get It Right” is spot-on in its plea for more support for higher education, Kansas is getting it all wrong.
We need to stop the bleeding … now.

Contact Steve Rose at srose@sunpublications.com .
 
UNIVERSITIES ARE SHORT CHANGED
 
WRITTEN BY BOB SIGMAN, OPINION PAGE EDITOR
THE JOHNSON COUNTY SUN
WEDNESDAY, 18 NOVEMBER 2009

If you are the parent or the grandparent of a school child with aspirations for attending a public university in Kansas some day, you should be alert to destructive state funding policies being inflicted on Kansas’ higher education system.

Now.

Without a change in a worrisome trend, says the state Board of Regents, the word “ration,” as in limiting access to post-secondary education, enters the equation.

“Are Kansans prepared to deny higher education to qualified students?” asked the board in a Power Point presentation at a Regents-sponsored Business & Industry Roundtable last week at Johnson County Community College.

The issue was also raised in remarks at the meeting by Regents Vice Chair Gary Sherrer of Overland Park and Reginald Robinson, president and CEO of the Board of Regents. The nine-member board governs the state’s public higher education institutions, including seven universities and 19 community colleges.

The trend, as outlined by Robinson: Between 1988 and 2008, the state reduced its share of higher education funding from 47 percent to 27 percent. This lack of public support – while enrollment increased – has thrown more of the burden on students and their families. In the 20-year period, tuition has risen from 16 percent of the funding pie to 26 percent.

If the pattern continues, tuition will soon outstrip state financing.

Without adequate state appropriations, courses could be limited, faculty reduced and other measures taken that would restrict enrollment in the years ahead.

This year was a funding disaster, adding to the decline. Robinson pointed out that allocations were cut four times as the state budget tightened. The system lost $100 million, or a 12 percent drop to $753 million. That is slightly more than the system received in 2006, Robinson said.

The eroding state support could not come at a worse time. Sherrer said that 22 of the nation’s fastest growing occupations require some level of post-secondary education; seven of the 22 require a two-year degree or certificate.

Although neither Sherrer nor Robinson mentioned the Legislature, I will. It is the Legislature that appropriates money for higher education. It is the Legislature that has shortchanged higher education in the past, continues it now and threatens the education of Kansas youth of the future.

The Regents are appealing to, as the name of the meeting indicates, business and industry. Of course the private sector is dependent on education for qualified employees. Without them, the Kansas economy could be stunted.

The attendees were invited to join a Regents-sponsored Business and Advisory Council that would advocate a higher priority on adequate funding.

The Regents cite surveys that show the Legislature’s funding policies are out of step with public sentiment: 91 percent of Kansans believe higher education should be maintained at the current level. Only 6 percent favor reduced funding.

Many legislators claim the state’s revenue shortfall, now in the hundreds of millions of dollars, is the result of the recession. That is not the only significant factor.

The Legislature has badly managed fiscal affairs, bringing on the ongoing financial crisis. Bottom line, legislators have allowed revenues to fall way below expenses. No citizen can do that with personal finances and survive.

Legislators have cut taxes in recent years, leading to less state income and forcing reduced funding for higher education. Many rule out a tax increase, but surely responsible legislators do not want to be part of such detrimental funding policies.

The private business/industry sector should let legislators know of their need for qualified employees. All Kansans should urge legislators to provide sufficient funding of the universities.

Denying young Kansans an opportunity for higher education is not an acceptable option.

Contact Bob Sigman at 385-6034 or e-mail bsigman@sunpublications.com .
 
  About Kansas Citizens For Higher Education
 
Thank you for visiting Citizens for Higher Education.

Public education is under attack nationwide as state budgets are strained to the breaking point.  Nowhere is this crisis more evident than in Kansas.

That’s why Citizens for Higher Education is fighting back.
 

Kansas ranks in the Top 10 of states sending its young people to college, but we are near the bottom of the Big 12 in terms of per student state funding.

State funding for higher education, adjusted for inflation, keeps falling while enrollment today is higher than it has ever been.

Average salaries for Kansas higher ed teachers and professors are average or below Big 12 standards, making our best and brightest educators ripe for the picking by rival states?

  Kansans have always placed a high priority on quality education.  That’s why these, and other facts are so troubling. CHE appreciates the fiscal challenges our state government faces, but we also believe it is time for Kansas to take a leadership role. 

Please take time to review our website, then get involved.  Register with CHE online.  There are a number of ways you can help us preserve and improve the quality of higher education in Kansas.  Thank you for your time and support.
 

Ross Beach             
Gene Bicknell
Jeff Crippen
John C Dicus
William Docking
Terrence P Dunn
James R Grier, III
Bill Hall
Kenneth Havner
Drue Jennings
Jim Lowther
Honorable Cordell Meeks
Fred Merrill
Joe C Morris
Bill E Musgrave
Robert D Regnier
E S Riss
Honorable Richard Rogers
Julie Davis Richey
John T Stewart
Bill Taylor
Robert Taylor
Kurt D Watson

|

|


Web Development By: New Age Graphics, LLC