By NICK BUDD
Hays Post
Whether court-ordered or policy-driven, changes to public education funding will be a prominent issue in 2014.
Gov. Sam Brownback is proposing the restoration of the salary cuts in higher education in his budget for the 2014 fiscal year.
“In my budget proposal, I will continue to support our universities, community and technical colleges” said Brownback in last week’s State of the State address. “I am confident that they will produce the next generation of Kansas leaders.”
According to interim budget director Jon Hummell, the plan would restore nearly $5 million in university salary cuts and would also give state classified employees a 1.5 percent raise. Legislators are also looking to provide $16 million to public schools in order to create a statewide all-day kindergarten.
At Fort Hays State University, the proposal will not likely have much effect.
According to Mike Barnett, vice president for administration and finance at FHSU, the school was not forced to change staffing because of last year’s cuts.
“We never made any staff reductions as a result of the cuts last year,” Barnett said. “Brownback’s plan is not to restore any cuts for ’14 because (our cuts) were below a certain percentage.”
“Higher education funding is always on the radar for (FHSU) due to the fact that it helps us provide an affordable education to our students,” Provost Chris Crawford said.
The Kansas Supreme Court also is expected to announce a key decision in Gannon vs. State of Kansas, which will decide what kind of education funding is adequate enough for the state.
The school funding focuses on an article in the Kansas Constitution that requires the Legislature to provide “suitable” funding for public education.
A decision in 2005 forced the courts to provide approximately $4,500 per student. In 2009, due to budget pressure, the Legislature began cutting the education budget again, resulting in base state aid of approximately $3,800 per pupil. In January 2013, a district court ruled in favor of Gannon, but an appeal by the state has brought the case to the Kansas Supreme Court.