Although a huge backlog of maintenance projects at state universities has been viewed as a top priority for this year’s Kansas Legislature, there seems to be little progress on reaching consensus about where to find the money to address the problem.

On Tuesday, the Senate Ways and Means Committee rejected the governor’s proposal to use a surcharge on Kansas Turnpike tolls to raise maintenance dollars. Although the plan earned points for creativity, it seemed wrong to many legislators to divert turnpike tolls – which traditionally are dedicated to funding highway-related projects – to the maintenance project.

Another Senate committee last week rejected the idea of raising university tuition to help cover the maintenance bill, but proposals to use tuition increases to fund at least part of the maintenance costs continue to surface. The same is true of proposals to impose either a sales tax or property tax on university communities, like Lawrence, to help cover part of the bill.

One senator even has proposed selling the Kansas University Hospital to raise money for university maintenance and help shore up the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System. That proposal also may get points for creativity, but it raises the question: What state asset will we sell next time we need to address a special state need?

It’s hard to justify additional tuition increases for university students who are paying as much as double the tuition charged five years ago. At least at KU, that has been accompanied by rising student fees and a web of “differential” tuition fees imposed by individual schools within the university. Although university officials argue tuition at Kansas schools still is a bargain, the increases have been a lot for students and families to absorb.

As a university community, it’s predictable that Lawrence would have reservations about special local tax levies to pay for maintenance on state-owned buildings. It’s true that KU is a huge asset for Lawrence, but local taxpayers already support the university in many ways through police and fire protection and other services. Being the home of the state capital is a huge boon to Topeka. Perhaps Topeka or Shawnee County should be forced to levy a special tax to help pay the ever-mounting bill for renovations to the state Capitol building.

State universities serve a statewide mission and are a statewide responsibility. For whatever reason – through poor management by university leaders, poor oversight by state leaders or some other cause – the state’s investment in university buildings now is threatened. It may be painful, but legislators must focus on a statewide solution to deal with this problem.