What is behind higher-ed cuts?

By Gwyn Mellinger. The recent outcry against the Kansas Legislature’s whack at higher-education funding came too late to prevent a shortsighted and misguided assault on state-supported colleges and universities.
Though Gov. Sam Brownback sought to maintain current funding for higher ed, his conservative legislative majority did not fall in line on this one. Now the governor must confront cuts to higher ed that Tim Emert, chairman of the Kansas Board of Regents, has called “devastating.”
According to the regents’ numbers, the damage over the next two years will total $48.7 million across the 32 public institutions under its umbrella. Among budget areas to be reduced are student financial aid and salaries. Kansas lawmakers passed this budget in a year when their peers in Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Colorado and Oklahoma all increased higher-ed support. Read more...