LJWorld.com

Topeka — Higher education would get a $38.4 million increase and most state employees a 2.5 percent pay raise under Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' budget proposal released Tuesday.

But the raise, if any, for state workers at Kansas University would be determined by school administrators.

And Sebelius' budget makes no mention of the nearly $600 million backlog in repair projects at state university campuses.

On the whole, however, higher education officials said they were pleased with Sebelius' spending plan for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

"She has recognized that the key to a successful state economy is a successful higher education system," Kansas University Chancellor Robert Hemenway said.

Sebelius' $5.3 billion state general fund budget proposal is $143 million more than current spending levels, and of that increase more than two-thirds is devoted to public schools and higher education.

"The governor's shown pretty consistently that she is committed to the entire system from preschool through graduate school," Hemenway said.

The proposal, which now goes to the Legislature for consideration, would increase higher education funding by approximately 5 percent.

KU pay

The pay issue for state workers at KU is different because last year the Legislature approved a bill that took KU's 1,470 classified employees out of the state's civil service system.

• 6News video: Sebelius submits budget to Legislature
• Audit calls for pouring cash into schools (01-10-06)
• Text of Sebelius' 2006 State of the State address (01-09-06)
• State's debt has ballooned over past 12 years, study finds (01-09-06)
• Governor's Budget Report

The change was sought by leaders of KU's Classified Senate, who said it would allow the university to provide larger pay increases than have been provided by the state.

During the current fiscal year, former classified workers at KU received an average 4.5 percent pay raise while their colleagues at other state schools and agencies received a phased-in 2.5 percent pay raise, according to Kathy Jansen, president of university support staff.

Jansen said she expected university administrators again would approve a larger pay increase this year than what other state employees would get.

"That is what we've been told, and last year that is what happened," she said. "We've been told that, at a minimum, they would match the raises given to state employees."

Hemenway agreed.

"Moving out of the state system doesn't mean they would receive any less. That's the reason we did this," he said.

Statewide, employee groups were unhappy with the 2.5 percent cost-of-living increase proposal, saying it wasn't enough to keep up with increasing costs.

KU would have to pay for its raises out of its increased operating grant, if approved by the Legislature and then signed into law by Sebelius. Essentially, the operating grants are controlled by the universities.

Sebelius' budget plan would increase operating grants by $20 million.

"The universities are not required to give any raises, but there is money there in the operating grant if they want to," Sebelius' budget director Duane Goossen said.

No maintenance plan

Sebelius' budget also calls for $8.9 million to finish funding a higher education restructuring effort approved during the administration of Gov. Bill Graves; $3.3 million of that could be used for faculty salary increases.

But Sebelius made no provision to handle the growing disrepair of scores of buildings on campuses statewide.

The Kansas Board of Regents has recommended a plan that includes a proposed one-tenth-cent statewide sales tax, a one-mill property tax increase and the issuance of $150 million in bonds.

It would raise $1.5 billion in the next 15 years to take care of a long list of repairs at regents university buildings across the state, and provide enough for annual maintenance to avoid a future backlog.

Jeremy Anderson, Sebelius' director of policy and governmental affairs, said the governor was still considering "options" for dealing with the problem of deferred maintenance.

Reggie Robinson, the regents' president and chief executive officer, said, "The governor's higher education budget enhancements are fair and reasonable given the state's constrained but improving budget environment."

He said the regents look forward to working with Sebelius on the deferred maintenance problems.

"This is a growing problem that any homeowner knows only gets more expensive the longer it is ignored," he said.