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January 16, 2009

Budget to dominate 2009 session

The 2009 Kansas Legislative session is now underway. So far, the dominant story has been declining state resources and the need to continue with additional budget reductions. For KU and other universities in Kansas, the news is grim. Here is a summary of the Governor's budget recommendations for higher education:

• $120 million cut from higher education funding in Kansas;
• Elimination of funding for deferred maintenance;
• No appropriation for the Wichita Center for Graduate Medical Education;
• Continued funding for the KU cancer center NCI designation initiative; and
• $32 million cut from the Kansas Bioscience Authority and the elimination of KTEC, both state agencies that support mission critical research at KU, the KU Medical Center and other state universities in Kansas.

Legislators have spent a good part of the opening days of the session trying to do careful analysis of the budget recommendations and are considering alternatives like across-the-board spending reductions among a larger group of agencies in an effort to cut more spending overall among a broader group of agencies. Clearly, the budget and our grim economic forecast will dominate the legislative session from start to finish.

KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway and Provost Richard Lariviere had productive discussions with policymakers regarding the university's legislative priorities this week.

House Higher Education Committee Chairwoman Terrie Huntington, R-Fairway, Vice-Chair Marc Rhoades, R-Newton and Ranking Minority Member Ann Mah, D-Topeka, met with the university leaders to discuss HB 2007, the "Jayhawk Legacy" proposal that is before lawmakers this session. This proposal would allow the university, upon Board of Regents approval, to waive a portion of tuition or fees for students recruited to KU from out-of-state.

Such a move would help attract those students of out-of-state KU alumni who want to come to KU, helps boost the state's future workforce by recruiting new students to Kansas and supports in-state students whose tuition is lower as a result of strong out-of-state student populations. Look for more updates on this exciting legislative initiative in the weeks ahead.

Finally, be sure to check out the Jayhawks for Higher Education webpage for their great new "bells and whistles": http://capwiz.com/kua/home/

Keeping our loyal Jayhawks in touch with Kansas lawmakers will be critical in the weeks and months ahead and their new Web program makes it incredibly easy to do just that. Rock Chalk!

Kathy Damron

Director of State Relations