Iowa Senate Democrats buck House college funding changes

DES MOINES – Senate Democrats are calling on Gov. Terry Branstad to help keep the rivalries among the Iowa's three regent universities – friendly or otherwise – on the athletic fields and out of the legislative process.

Republicans who control the Iowa House touched off the potential for infighting Tuesday night when they passed a $984.1 million education appropriation for fiscal 2015 that affects roughly $4.4 million from University of Iowa operations, giving the Iowa City school a 2 percent budget increase while Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa each would receive 4 percent.

House Republicans argued the University of Iowa has healthy enough reserves bolstered by the way state funding formula has worked for the last decade. Backers of the funding change said the UI budget has the ability to operate with a smaller appropriation and still offer a tuition freeze for instate undergraduates next year.

The modification did not sit well with Democrats who control the Iowa Senate, where lawmakers early approved a request from the Iowa Board of Regents backed by the governor to increase state support to each state university by four percent and provide UNI with an extra $4.4 million to address how an in-state tuition freeze for a second straight year would affect the Cedar Falls school.

'The House Republican vote is an attempt to pit our universities against each other, pit Iowans against each other,” said Sen. Brian Schoenjahn, D-Arlington, co-leader of the Legislature's education budget subcommittee.

'Governor Branstad, the tuition freeze is one of your top legislative priorities and it's serious trouble,” Schoenjahn said during a Senate floor speech Wednesday. 'You agree with Senate Democrats that the tuition freeze is a top priority. We need you to join us in convincing House Republicans to do the right thing, and that means agreeing to the Board of Regents' offer to freeze tuition for a second year.”

Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, said it was a lack of state support and past budget cuts that caused tuition rates to increase dramatically at regent universities, so it is 'vitally important” that lawmakers restore funding during a time of budget surplus to help control college costs for students and their parents.

'If we underfund our universities, if we continue to disinvest in our universities, then it won't matter how low the tuition is because when the quality goes to heck the education won't be worth it at any price,” he added. 'We have to continue to fund the quality and maintain the affordability. That's what our students expect, that's what our students need.”

Quirmbach, an ISU economics professor, said the three state schools engage in friendly rivalries on the athletic playing field but when it comes to funding for higher education 'we are united, all three together.”

In response to the ongoing budget work, Branstad spokesman Jimmy Centers said 'the governor put forth a budget in January, which he supports. We will continue working with the Iowa House and Iowa Senate as they work to pass a budget.”

Later Wednesday, lawmakers agreed to send the education measure to a 10-member House-Senate conference committee to hammer out their differences.

As proposed, Senate File 2347 appropriates $984.1 million for the Department for the Blind, the College Student Aid Commission, the Department of Education, Community Colleges, Vocational Rehabilitation, Iowa Public Television, and the Board of Regents.

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