2004 legislative session proves positive for KU, higher education

Legislators Jim Barone, D-Frontenac; Kenny Wilk, R-Lansing; Nick Jordan, R-Shawnee; and Valdenia C. Winn, D-Kansas City, watch Gov. Kathleen Sebleius sign into law the Kansas Economic Growth Act at the Lenexa Conference Center April 19. The act could infuse the state's public research universities with $500 million in funding for biosciences research, facilities, and new staff over 10 years.

After a long and challenging period of budget cuts and state-imposed allotment reductions, 2004 proved to be a positive year in the Kansas Legislature for KU and public higher education.

"Unlike the past two legislative sessions, the focus this year was less on cutting basic university funding and more on how best to invest in the state's higher education system," said KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway.

K-12 funding needs were not addressed, Hemenway noted, which has to concern higher education. But overall, the budget was a positive and long-overdue change for higher education, one that reflects an improving economy in Kansas.

The 2004-05 budget bill, adopted April 1, includes a 1 percent block operating grant increase for the Regents universities. It also provides part of the third year of a faculty salary increase promised under legislation in 1999. Also approved: a 3 percent state-funded salary increase for both faculty and staff - after two years of little or no new money.

The bill mirrors a proposal introduced by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius in January. One change from the Governor's original language was the Legislature's addition of $500,000 for the KU Medical Center, reflecting the special mission and funding needs of that campus.
"We supported the Governor's budget proposal," said Hemenway, "knowing it was the best deal possible for public higher education this year."

Even so, it is less than the Board of Regents requested last summer and is not enough to offset KU's fixed employer cost increases, such as health insurance.

Hemenway noted that some tuition and fee-funded reserves must also be tapped to fully pay for the 3 percent salary increase.
"We are assured that this is a one-time expenditure," he said. "Even so, it's troubling, and we need to make sure that new funds for salary increases are found for next year."

The most significant non-budget issue for KU this spring was the Kansas Economic Growth Act (HB 2647), a bill that creates a "Biosciences Authority" in the state, modeled, in part, on the University of Kansas Hospital Authority. The goal of this bill is to use up to $500 million in new tax revenue -- generated over the next decade by growing biosciences companies -- to fund biosciences research, facilities and new staff positions at KU and other universities in the state.

"KU will clearly be a major beneficiary of the initiative," said Hemenway, "since we are already the state's leading research university and a strong partner in the Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute."

While the bill is not perfect, said Hemenway, "HB 2647 may well be the most memorable landmark of this session for public higher education, just as the research bonding authority bill was in 2002."
Also passed by the Legislature late in the session was HB 2145, which allows undocumented immigrants to attend KU or another state university in Kansas at resident tuition rates if certain reasonable conditions are met. The Board of Regents and the universities supported the bill.

To be eligible for the resident rate, a student must have attended an accredited Kansas high school for three or more years, either graduate from a Kansas high school or earn a GED certificate, and be in the process of seeking legal immigration status.

Citizens for Higher Education, Inc., a private advocacy organization dedicated to reversing the decline in state support for public higher education, recently unveiled a report about the economic impact of higher education in the state. Among its findings:

• Collectively, public higher education contributes $5.2 billion to the state's economy, more than 6 percent of the gross state product.

• Public higher education also is responsible for almost 116,000 jobs, more than 8 percent of the state's employed workforce.

For more information about this report and other activities by Citizens for Higher Education, Inc., go to http://www.kansashighereducation.org/.