The reaction of state officials to crumbling infrastructure and the state’s declining support of its university system is disappointing.

A story in Sunday’s Journal-World told of about $600 million in maintenance that is needed at the state’s six public universities. Kansas University accounts for about $200 million of that total.

These are not minor or cosmetic repairs. Photos that accompanied the story showed rusted electrical outlets, a sagging retaining wall, serious water damage and power tunnels tenuously supported by crumbling concrete and rusted steel. In a number of cases, the structural integrity of state-owned buildings appears to be threatened.

When asked how they would raise the money to address these problems while keeping tuition at a level that makes a university education accessible to Kansas young people, neither Gov. Kathleen Sebelius nor her Republican opponent Sen. Jim Barnett offered any specific ideas. Both responded that they supported higher education and used the opportunity to roll out other talking points to support their campaigns.

Perhaps most disturbing or puzzling, however, was the response of Rep. Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, and chairman of the House budget committee. Delayed maintenance isn’t the state’s fault, he said, it’s the universities that are to blame.

“The universities have made it clear to the Legislature that they want to be independent so that the Legislature has less say,” Neufeld said.

Perhaps Neufeld doesn’t understand the funding situation. It’s true that universities have asked to receive their funding in the form of a block grant to give them more authority to direct money where it is needed. It isn’t, however, the goal of state universities to become financially independent of the state, although that clearly is the direction the Legislature has been taking.

Sunday’s story noted that the state funded 49 percent of the budgets for the six state universities in 1985 and only 29 percent last year. During the same period, KU’s support dropped from 48 percent to 25 percent.

That is a pretty stunning decline, but does it concern Neufeld who also contends that a university education isn’t as essential as it once was?

“The economy does not have a demand that everyone have a fine arts degree,” he said. “Employers care if someone has the specialized training to do the job.”

Certainly, not everyone needs a university education. The state’s community colleges and vocational-technical schools do an excellent job of training skilled workers for Kansas companies. But it’s foolhardy to deny the important role that universities play in the state. State universities are where many Kansans discover and develop talents that drive the Kansas economy. University researchers work on the big ideas that create jobs and wealth in the state.

Unfortunately, it sometimes seems that Neufeld’s attitude is all too prevalent among state legislators. Administrators at all six state universities should do their part to set money aside for urgent maintenance needs, but the state also needs to consider its priorities for the most important and immediate uses of taxpayer money. For example, how should the state weigh the need for $600 million to fix university buildings against the need to spend $13 billion on state highways?