University presidents meet with governor, lawmakers on budget

Amid a continuing standoff over the state budget, Kentucky’s public university presidents were summoned to the Governor’s Mansion late Wednesday to meet with Gov. Matt Bevin, House and Senate leaders and state budget director John Chilton.

The three-hour meeting left Eastern Kentucky University President Michael Benson “slightly more hopeful” about an agreement on higher education funding, he said in a campus-wide email he sent late Wednesday night. Benson said all nine university presidents were in attendance at the meeting, which included “discussion, debate and deliberation.”

Funding for higher education is a key disagreement between the Republican-led Senate and the Democratic-led House of Representatives. The Senate agreed with Gov. Matt Bevin’s proposed budget, which called for a 9 percent cut to higher education next year. The House proposed no spending cut for Kentucky’s public universities and colleges.

As negotiations over the state’s two-year, $21 billion budget broke down last week, Bevin implemented a 4.5 percent current-year cut to higher education.

In his email, Benson quoted a legislative update from Frankfort lobbyist Chris Nolan, who works for EKU. Nolan said the last offer Senate Republicans made had no current-year cuts and a 4.5 percent cut in the fiscal year that begins July 1. So, Nolan said, the governor’s subsequent order cutting universities by 4.5 percent in the current year was seen as a step backward by Democrats.

“The key points at issue are the current-year 4.5 percent budget cuts to higher education that the governor issued by executive order last week and any potential vetoes the governor could issue without the legislature being able to override them,” Nolan wrote. “The two issues are tied together because the House Democrats are questioning why they should strike a budget agreement over any potential cuts to education if the governor believes he has the ability to cut education at any time through executive order as he did last week.”

He continued: “The Senate and governor have proposed cuts to higher education and use the money to put into a fund to pay down the state’s enormous pension liabilities. The House has said other revenues can be dedicated toward pension payments and there is no need to cut any part of education, especially since the state had a budget surplus and there is no crisis of a shortfall. Universities, meanwhile, have become the political football in the budget negotiations.”

On Thursday, Benson said the presidents respect the budget process.

“The worst possible scenario is no budget on July 1,” he said. “We’re willing to do what we can to help get past the current impasse, but the nuclear option is a really bad option.”

Council on Postsecondary Education President Robert King, who attended the Wednesday meeting, declined to comment, citing ongoing negotiations. University of Kentucky officials also declined to discuss the meeting.

Bevin and Senate Republicans have said cuts are needed across state government to shore up the state’s enormous pension shortfall.

Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, said Thursday afternoon that “informal budget discussions continued today and I believe progress was made.”

He said there was “no official news to report, but I felt that the conversations were positive and I am still optimistic that a budget can pass both chambers by April 12.”

House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, said “meaningful discussions” were underway but “we haven’t broken through the impasse.”

This story was originally published April 7, 2016 at 1:43 PM with the headline "University presidents meet with governor, lawmakers on budget."