DES MOINES | After taking back $20.8 million in state appropriations from the Board of Regents in the 2017 budget year and then nearly $10 million for the 2018 budget year that started July 1, Gov. Kim Reynolds on Tuesday recommended slashing the regents’ current budget again by another $5.13 million.
That reduction would bring state support for the Board of Regents, which governs Iowa’s three public universities and two special schools, from $565.4 million in the 2018 budget year to $560.2 million, according to a legislative analysis.
The cuts, which are only recommendations and must be approved by lawmakers, come in response to a state budget shortfall of about $35 million, and they add to the more than $30 million in base funding reductions the Board of Regents has absorbed since the last legislative session.
At the start of the 2017 budget year, the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa collectively were promised $513.7 million in general education appropriations. Cuts during the last session, combined with Gov. Reynolds proposed cuts Tuesday, would drop that total to nearly $479 million.
For the 2019 budget year, the governor has proposed a total Board of Regents funding increase of $7.3 million — below the board’s $12 million request.
But if lawmakers take Reynolds’ suggestions, total regents funding would increase $2.4 million above the fiscal 2018 base funding total — before the proposed $5.1 million cut.
The Board of Regents didn’t release details of how any new money might be distributed. It had planned to divide its requested $12 million by giving $5 million each to the UI and ISU and $2 million to UNI, all of which would go toward student financial aid.
As for the cuts, the regents aim to hold UNI and its two special schools harmless, according to board spokesman Josh Lehman.
The governor’s proposal suggests taking $2.4 million from UI’s general education fund and $1.9 million from ISU’s general education pot — with smaller decreases coming in other areas, like UI’s Oakdale campus and Iowa State’s agricultural experiment station.
“Any reduction is challenging, but the board recognizes the current fiscal situation the state is facing,” Board of Regents Executive Director Mark Braun said in a statement, which also thanked the governor for her support of higher education and the proposed increase in 2019.
“We will work with our institutions to make any required FY18 reductions in ways that have as little impact on students as possible, Braun added.
Reynolds also proposed cutting Iowa’s community college funding by $1.8 million in the current 2018 budget year. When combined with a proposed $3 million bump for 2019, the state’s 15 community college could be looking to split a net $1.2 million increase.
With lawmakers now slated to review the budget recommendations and make decisions, state Rep. Mary Mascher, D-Iowa City, said proposed “increases for public education are so inadequate.”
“That’s going to be a real challenge,” she said. “More cuts in education results in more tuition for our higher ed students, who are in community colleges and our regent schools. To me, that’s a non-starter.”
The University of Iowa and Iowa State have proposed five years of 7 percent annual tuition increases for resident undergraduates if lawmakers don’t increase funding. UNI has proposed an annualized increase of 5 percent for that same group of students under those same conditions.
It’s unclear what a small increase might mean for the tuition-increase requests.
Some regents, lawmakers and students have criticized the proposed rate hikes as too steep, and the Board of Regents has postponed its decision on tuition — which typically happens almost a year before the new academic year — until June, which likely will come after lawmakers have approved appropriations.
State Sen. Bob Dvorsky, D-Coralville, expressed concern for the higher education cuts and minimal increases.
“We’re slowly strangling the public universities, the community colleges, and K-12,” he said.