The Kansas Board of Regents has set an ambitious course for higher education funding for next year with a couple of interesting twists that state legislators should find attractive.

Earlier this month, the regents outlined their funding strategy in a document they called “The Kansas Commitment.” Following two years of budget cuts that have trimmed the state’s higher education investment by about 12 percent, it’s not surprising that the document calls for an additional financial commitment from the state. However, it also includes a creative funding mechanism and a commitment from the regents to address important state workforce needs.

The regents are seeking about $50 million in additional state funding for next year. About $20 million of that would represent a 2.73 percent inflationary increase, based on the Higher Education Price Index. Another $15.75 million would be to restore some of the deferred maintenance funding that legislators approved for higher education but eliminated in the last two budgets.

The regents also are asking the state to collaborate with Kansas University, Kansas State and Wichita State in a special program to meet workforce needs. Their plan is to have the state contribute $14 million and universities contribute $7 million to address the state’s shortage of graduates in engineering and medical fields. The regents are committing to an increase of 490 engineering graduates per year and the creation of 50 new slots for nursing students and 22 new slots in a loan program for students who agree to become primary care physicians in underserved Kansas counties.

The appeal of this provision, which the regents call “Kan-Grow” is that state legislators know exactly what they are getting for their money and they can hold the regents accountable for those state dollars.

Concerned about tuition increases that have been needed to offset state funding cuts, the regents got a little creative. Their idea is to let the state’s six universities keep the state sales tax revenue collected at bookstores and other businesses on university property and use that money to create “Kan-Help” a need-based financial aid program for middle- and low-income university students.

The proposal would involve about $6 million in state sales tax money, which would be supplemented by about $4 million in contributions from university athletic departments to create the fund. It isn’t a huge loss of tax revenue for the state, but the regents will need to be careful that legislators don’t use it as an excuse to make up the loss by cutting other areas of the budget.

Convincing state legislators to increase higher education funding next year won’t be an easy task, but the regents have done a good job of justifying their requests by tying them to clear goals that should resonate with legislators: maintaining the state’s capital investment in university campuses, building the state work force in key areas, and offsetting tuition increases that are becoming a burden on many Kansas families.

It will be a tough sell, but “The Kansas Commitment” is a good first step in selling legislators on the importance of investing in higher education.