Lawmakers are right to try to restore at least some of the funding cut from the state’s public colleges and universities in 2016.

Then-Gov. Sam Brownback ordered higher education cuts late in the 2016 session in a last-minute effort to balance the budget for the fiscal year that began July 1 of that year. The cuts amounted to $30.7 million for colleges and universities, including a $6.7 million cut to the University of Kansas’ Lawrence campus and $3.5 million for the KU Medical Center campus in Kansas City, Kan.

On average, the cuts amounted to about 4 percent of state aid, though KU, Kansas State and Wichita State suffered larger cuts, based on the assumption that the state’s largest universities have more access to federal grants and other revenue streams that the smaller schools cannot access.

On Wednesday, the Senate Finance Committee voted to restore 75 percent of the funds that were cut. The House Appropriations Committee voted to restore 50 percent. The funding changes were included in budget bills that are being debated now as the Legislature tries to wrap up the 2018 session.

Lawmakers were generally supportive of restoring some funding; the debate centers over whether to restore all funding or a portion of it.

Senate President Susan Wagle suggested restoring the funding in phases, starting with a 50 percent restoration.

“I think that’s an interesting comment about phasing in the additional money, because we sure didn’t phase in their decreases,” said Sen. Vicki Schmidt, R-Topeka, whose 75 percent restoration the committee approved.

The news this week that former KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little is still being paid more than $500,000 per year to assist and advise new Chancellor Douglas Girod won’t help KU’s cause. Though the Board of Regents approved Gray-Little’s continuing pay some time ago, the payments came as a surprise to lawmakers.

“What it strikes me as is disappointing,” House Minority Leader Jim Ward, D-Wichita, said after learning of the payment. “Tuition rates have been going up in this state, at KU particularly, and this kind of expenditure of money just is disappointing.”

Ward is right. At a minimum, the Board of Regents and Gray-Little could have been more forthcoming in announcing her ongoing relationship with the school.

Still, as Ward noted, state aid is key to tuition rates for KU students and their families. They should not be punished for the Regents’ and KU’s poor judgment.

Restoring 50 to 75 percent of the higher education funds is a reasonable approach to getting higher education back on track, and should be approved.