Branstad calls for cutting $34 million from higher ed this year

Gov. Terry Branstad has proposed cutting more than $25.5 million from the Iowa Board of Regents and $8.7 million from the state's community colleges during the current fiscal year.

If the cuts are approved by the Iowa House and Senate budget committees, higher education would shoulder the highest portion of about $110 million in cuts that Branstad proposed Tuesday in response to lower-than-projected revenues.

Democrats responded by saying tuition at Iowa's community colleges and universities will certainly go up. But regents officials said Tuesday tuition is locked in for fall 2017.

Officials in the governor's office said the regents could decide how to divide the cuts among the three public universities. The governor's budget proposals for 2018 and 2019, however, factor the 2017 cuts into the line items for Iowa State University, the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa.

"We understand the revenue constraints the state is facing for the current fiscal year," Bruce Rastetter, president of the regents, said in a prepared statement Tuesday. "We will work with our institutions to make the required reductions in a way that has the least effect on students."

It is unclear how the cuts would affect the regents' funding needs for the 2018 fiscal year, which the regents approved in September. The regents at that time asked for a 2 percent increase over this year's funding to all three public universities, plus an additional $2.5 million to help support UNI.

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When approving their request in September, the regents said an additional $12.7 million was the minimum needed for the board to hold undergraduate tuition increases to only 2 percent for the next two years. Rastetter said in December that Iowa families could count on 2017-18 base tuition for resident undergraduate students being $7,270 at the University of Iowa and $7,240 at both UNI and Iowa State University.

"Tuition is locked in for 2017-18," Josh Lehman, a spokesman for the regents, said Tuesday. "We've said that publicly."

The governor's budget for fiscal year 2018, however, calls for $587 million in funding for the regents, down about $37 million from the $624 million requested by the board. The governor's recommended total increases to about $598 million for fiscal year 2019, down about $39 million form the total requested by the board.

Branstad said earlier this month that several areas of state government will be spared from any mid-year spending cuts, including K-12 schools, property tax credits and Medicaid. That left higher education as one of the largest remaining sources for funding cuts.

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Over the past few weeks, Democratic senators have called on Branstad to dip into the state's $738 million reserve funds to cover the bulk of the $110 million shortfall. They argue that, with the fiscal year half over, the cuts will be particularly severe.

“I think there is no question that this is going to result in tuition increases for community college and public universities’ families and students," said Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City. "We need to find some cuts in the fastest-growing part of the budget, and that is tax giveaways to large corporations.”

Community college leaders said Tuesday they would work to ensure that their students would not be adversely affected by the $8.7 million cuts proposed for the remaining five months of this current fiscal year.

"Most of our students already experience some kind of financial struggles or barriers," said Rob Denson, president of Des Moines Area Community College.

Denson said DMACC will be looking to make those savings through cutting back on supplies and not filling open positions.

“This has been in the news now for several weeks, so we have been saving what we could,” Denson said. “We are not anticipating layoffs."

The state funding for Iowa’s 15 community college has only increased on average about 1 percent per year over the past three years, Denson said.

“This is not yet a perfect storm, but it’s close to one,” Denson said.

The heads of UI, ISU and UNI explained their institution’s funding requests during the governor's budget hearings in November. The governor praised the two-year focus of the request at the time, but did not commit any additional funding.

Reporters Bill Petroski and Brianne Pfannenstiel contributed to this story.

Governor's recommended budget