House education budget bill decreases general funding for universities

Yahoo

01-05-2025

Proposed education appropriations legislation in the Iowa House would decrease general funding for state universities. (Stock photo by)
Iowa's public universities may see a reduction in their general state funding for the upcoming fiscal year, according to legislation proposed by House Republicans, but the chair of the bill's subcommittee said savings from eliminated programs and positions and funding in other areas will more than make up for it.
The House Education Appropriations Subcommittee met Wednesday to discuss House Study Bill 337, which would allocate more than $1 billion in state dollars to the Iowa Department of Education, Iowa Board of Regents and its universities, community colleges, departments for the blind and deaf and more.
Rep. Austin Harris, R-Moulton, chaired the subcommittee meeting and said lawmakers will continue to work on the budget, but he is pleased with its current form.
'I'm very proud of the budget that the House Republicans have put forward,' Harris said. 'I think it's in line with our principles of being fiscally responsible and restrained and making sure that we have good budget practices, also while we're making investments across the entire state.'
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Each of Iowa's public universities would see less general university funding from the state than what they requested, according to the bill, and less than what is proposed in the Iowa Senate's version of education appropriation legislation.
The University of Iowa would receive more than $222.6 million in general university funding, according to the legislation, with Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa set to receive almost $177.7 million and just over $101.4 million, respectively. Both the UI and ISU requested flat funding for fiscal year 2026, and UNI asked for an increase of $2.5 million.
Rep. Monica Kurth, D-Davenport, said it's 'very concerning' to see general funding for universities decrease when costs have kept rising. Both the UI and ISU would see a decrease of $800,000 under the bill, she said, and UNI would receive nearly $500,000 less in general funding.
'Those are our higher education institutions and to not increase their funding, to at least take into account cost of living adjustment, I think is very concerning,' Kurth said.
State universities saved more than $2 million by eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs and positions across their campuses, Harris said, and when looking at specific university programs funded in the bill, total appropriations have actually increased.
Included in the House bill is a section funding the proposed UI center for intellectual freedom with a $1.5 million appropriation, pending Gov. Kim Reynolds's signature on legislation establishing the center. Other university funding Harris noted included $4 million to the UI for rural maternal and mental health professional programs, $1 million for UI cancer research, a combined $4 million for ISU extension offices, agricultural and veterinary programs and $3 million to UNI for an in-state tuition program for students from bordering states.
Both ISU and UNI would see more than $3 million in total state allocations under the bill, Harris said, and the UI would receive an increase of around $5.6 million.
Other departments and organizations seeing funding increases include the Department for the Blind, Iowa School for the Deaf, Iowa PBS and loan and incentive programs.
Community colleges would receive almost $243.9 million under the House legislation, about $8 million more than the Senate bill proposes. Lawmakers voiced their support for this change, but Rep. Elinor Levin, D-Iowa City, said she was concerned with the many 'status quo line items,' or budget items that have remained unchanged from last year, in the bill.
Despite all of the talk about the importance of early literacy, Levin said there is no increased funding for initiatives to help with this problem in the bill, nor are there increases for postsecondary summer classes for high school students or statewide student assessments.
The bill will move to the House Appropriations Committee after a 5-2 vote.
'We obviously know how the process here works, and moving forward, we're going to continue to work on the budget to hopefully get us out of here at a decent time,' Harris said.
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