The Kansas Board of Regents has finalized a plan outlining how much money it will request from lawmakers for the coming fiscal year.
The spending plan includes $47 million in additional funding for the state’s universities.The board says it tried to keep its request as modest as possible.
The funding request includes a 1 percent pay raise for all university employees and additional money targeted at specific programs and goals.
Officials at the state’s universities had originally requested a larger funding increase. But a large tax cut slated to take effect in January will mean reduced state tax collections.
Regent Kenny Wilk says the possibility of tight state budgets or deficits in the coming years means board members had to scale back requests from the universities.
“There’s a lot of passion behind every one of their requests, so it makes it really tough,” says Wilk. “But they were also cooperative. I think everybody understands the environment.”
The spending plan will now go to Governor Sam Brownback for consideration. He will provide his own budget plan to legislators early next year.