State Urged to Restore Higher Education Funding

The Kansas Board of Regents is urging the governor and lawmakers to restore higher education funding.

The regents took the stance Wednesday unanimously and without comment. For fiscal years 2018 and 2019, their proposal calls for reinstating about $30 million per year sliced from the fiscal 2017 budget.

The cuts announced in May represented a 4 percent higher education reduction. The University of Kansas and KU Medical Center lost about $10.7 million, and Kansas State University’s campuses lost about $7 million.

Regents chairwoman Zoe Newton says the board is “not unaware of the straits that we are in as a state.” But she says the board feels it needs to “put out there what it is that we feel we need as a system.”

Associated Press information from: The Topeka Capital-Journal