Topeka ? Several officials Wednesday said there was confusion over the extent of a proposed cut in the higher education budget that was adopted by the Senate.

After the Senate approved its state budget proposal Tuesday, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius praised the action, saying that the Senate had “adopted my budget recommendations on both K-12 and higher education.”

But upon further review, it appears the Senate cut higher education deeper than Sebelius said she wanted, and even deeper than a House budget plan that Sebelius had criticized.

Sebelius’ spokeswoman Beth Martino said in an e-mail asking about the situation, “I’ve been looking into it and I would say that it appears the Governor, along with many others, is just learning today that the budget passed by the Senate cut funding for higher education.

“She is hopeful the House and Senate can find a way to protect our investment in education when they address the budget in conference,” she said.

Both the House and Senate budget proposals are now in a conference committee.

It was somewhat unclear the extent of the Senate’s proposed cut.

Legislative staff members and state Sen. Jay Emler, R-Lindsborg, who is chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said the Senate proposal would cut higher education 6.8 percent, but the Kansas Board of Regents said it was approximately 12 percent. The regents said the House proposal represented an 8 percent cut.

Kansas University officials sounded the alarm about the deeper cut in a letter from Chancellor Robert Hemenway and KU Alumni Association President Kevin Corbett.

Hemenway and Corbett said an additional 12 percent cut next year would “seriously damage” KU’s mission.

They urged alumni to contact their legislators and ask that they not institute deep budget cuts.

“A double-digit cut would lead to further layoffs, resulting in larger class sizes and fewer course offerings. This would make it harder for students to graduate in a timely fashion,” the letter said.