An aerial view of the Kansas University campus.

Topeka ? The Kansas Board of Regents on Wednesday approved a budget request that could get back over three years all the funding that lawmakers and Gov. Mark Parkinson have cut from post-secondary schools this year.

Under the recommendation sent to Parkinson and the Legislature to consider when the session starts in January, schools would receive a $17 million, or 2.3 percent, increase for the fiscal year that starts July 1, 2010. Then the schools would receive upwards of $50 million for each of the two fiscal years after that.

The total would bring higher education funding to approximately $870 million, which, taking into account mandated expense increases, would bring the schools’ state general fund budgets up to the level of where they were earlier this year before the recession forced widespread state budget cuts.

Kansas University Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little voiced support of the regents proposals.

The request for next fiscal year, Gray-Little said, represented a reasonable balance between dealing with tight state revenues and increased costs, such as for health insurance and rising enrollments.

“The recommendation tries to take into account the needs and the current economic situation,” she said.

The proposal for the out-years, she said, will help policymakers understand how much it will cost for schools to reach goals set by the regents and Parkinson’s recent challenge for universities to increase their academic rankings.

Much of the budget discussion by the regents was on how to frame the issue for the legislative session.

Regents President and Chief Executive Officer Reginald Robinson said it was important for schools to get themselves in position for increased funding once the economy improves. Also, he said, higher education will be competing against many state functions that will need funding increases because they have been propped up by federal stimulus funding that expires.

University chief executives initially asked the regents to ask that the Legislature approve a $100 million increase in the out-years to get schools back to the funding levels before the cutting started.

But Regents Chairwoman Jill Docking called that “delusional and problematic to our credibility.”

But Docking and several other regents, who initially expressed skepticism, agreed with the idea of asking for that same increased funding level if it were shown that was the amount required to accomplish specific goals.

Fort Hays State University President Ed Hammond said he hoped the request for $100 million in future years would become an issue for candidates to address when they run for office in 2010.

And Regent Jarold Boettcher urged the board to be aggressive in making budget requests. “If we don’t ask for it, we sure as heck won’t get it,” he said.