The Kansas Board of Regents isn’t the only group that should be lobbying on behalf of higher education in the state.

The editorial column of the Journal-World hasn’t hesitated to criticize higher education officials for not doing a good enough job of promoting state universities and making the case for them to receive more state funding.

However, the verbal jabs that came from Gov. Bill Graves last week seem to be a cheap shot. During his regular Friday press conference Graves chastised the Kansas Board of Regents for focusing so much attention on a measure that would authorize $130 million in bonds to build research facilities at Kansas University, Kansas State University and Wichita State University. More effort, he said, should have gone into seeking support for the final phase of Senate Bill 345, the Higher Education Coordination Act, which included funding for faculty pay raises at state universities and property tax relief in areas that support community colleges.

“It would be fair to say that I am disappointed there wasn’t ever any energy generated for the budget, generally for 345,” Graves said. “Everybody just kind of gave up on it and said let’s take what we can get.”

The governor would be in a stronger position to offer such criticism if he had made any effort to preserve the “345” plan. Funding for the third year of the higher education measure hasn’t been included in any budget Graves presented this year.

He called the research bill an “incredibly simple” bill to support because it didn’t call for any funding in the next fiscal year. It’s difficult to see why Graves apparently saw that as a negative aspect of the bill. Certainly, regents and university officials know the importance of additional funding for basic operations and were pleased by a plan a Senate committee passed last week to increase that funding. But why shouldn’t they also seek approval for a creative measure that is “incredibly simple” to support and makes a major contribution to the future health of state universities as well as the state’s economy?

Does Graves have any idea how much effort has gone into encouraging legislators to increase funding for all state education from kindergarten through college? Is there some other motivation or plan behind Graves’ attack on the regents?

Graves’ remarks seem to be an effort to shift responsibility for supporting higher education away from his office and even away from the Kansas Legislature, when, in reality, the state’s higher education system is a major responsibility of state government.

The Kansas Board of Regents isn’t a special-interest lobbying group trying to promote goals that benefit a narrow clientele. The regents and university officials are trying to show how important higher education is to the state as a whole. Maybe they could have done a better job, but they also could benefit from some help from the governor and state legislators who share that view.

Too often, university and regents officials are suspect in the eyes of legislators, who may see their pleas for funding as self-serving. Support from the governor and legislators  especially those without a college in their district  is important, if not essential, to making the case for more funding.

The research facilities bill is an important contribution to higher education in the state, but it alone won’t allow state universities to preserve their current quality of services. If Gov. Graves wants to be part of the solution, he should dive into the debate rather than pointing fingers at others.