FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 17, 2015
Request for State Funding to Enhance Higher Education
(Topeka, Kansas) - Included in today’s proceedings of the Kansas Board of Regents, the following budget priorities, totaling $28.85 million, were approved for submission to the Governor’s office for consideration as revisions to the FY 2017 Unified State Appropriations Request:
| TOP PRIORITY REQUESTS | Amount of Increase Over Initial FY 2017 Appropriation |
| WSU – Establish Department of Chemical & Materials Engineering | $2,000,000 |
| KU – Integrated Science Buildings for Innovation Way | $3,500,000 * |
| KUMC – Merit-based salary increase | $3,406,215 |
| KSU – Geoscience Support in the College of Arts and Sciences | $5,000,000 |
| FHSU – Initiatives to increase Retention and Graduation Rates | $2,188,568 |
| ESU – Establish state funding for the Department of Nursing | $500,000 |
| PSU – Create the PSU School of Transportation | $1,500,000 |
| Close the Gap in the Tiered Technical Education Formula | $8,310,534 |
| Excel in CTE Initiative | $2,250,000 ** |
| Office space – 32% SGF increase in state lease rate & reduced federal share | $178,000 |
| Midwestern Higher Education Compact annual state commitment increase | $20,000 |
* recurring at $7m
** bringing the total annual appropriation to $23 million
In addition to the above recurring appropriations, the Board approved seven additional FY 2017 requests for future consideration, including Support for Economic, Innovation, Diversification, and Technology Transfer at Wichita State University ($9.2 million, $3.2 million recurring thereafter, plus $12 million in capital improvement support over two years); Innovation Equipment at Wichita State University ($10 million, plus $2.5 million recurring thereafter); Planning for New Food Systems Research and Education Facility at Kansas State University ($5 million, recurring); An Initiative to Strengthen the College of Architecture, Planning, Design at Kansas State University (note: this $3.7 million was already appropriated for FY 2018, however the request is to change the source of the funding from EBF to SGF); STEM Programming for Kansas Economy at Emporia State University ($715,700, recurring); A Rural Health Care Professions Initiative at Pittsburg State University ($1 million, plus $2 million recurring thereafter); and Support to Strengthening Community-Based Medical Education in Wichita at the University of Kansas Medical Center ($3.5 million, plus $5.7 million recurring thereafter).
For more information, contact Breeze Richardson at (785) 291-3969 or
###
About the Kansas Board of Regents:
The nine-member Kansas Board of Regents is the governing board of the state's six universities and the statewide coordinating board for the state's 32 public higher education institutions (six state universities, one municipal university, nineteen community colleges, and six technical colleges). In addition, the Board administers the state's student financial aid, adult education, high school equivalency, and career and technical education programs. Private proprietary schools and out-of-state institutions are authorized by the Kansas Board of Regents to operate in Kansas, and the Board continues to administer Kan-Ed, a program for facilitating and promoting distance learning and telemedicine in schools, libraries and hospitals. Visit the Kansas Board of Regents online at www.kansasregents.org.
Request for State Funding to Enhance Higher Education (PDF download)