JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – When the Select Committee on the Budget cut $8 million from the University of Missouri after months of student protests and accusations of mismanagement, it ruffled those who have criticized the micromanagement of the university, as well as many of the legislators from the area like Rep. Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia.
Now, a budget fight over higher education funding could engulf the House next week when appropriations bills come up for debate.
While a proposal from Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, would delay the MU budget cuts by creating a committee to investigate the university’s processes and procedures, House Budget Chair Tom Flanigan believes he will still have to mediate between two sides, the Democrats who will try to increase funding for the university…
“I am still concerned about the funding to the Missouri system,” said Rep. Gail McCann Beatty, the ranking minority member of the committee. “We cut out a fairly substantial amount for their administrative services. It affects not only the MU campus, but all of the Missouri universities.”
…and the Republicans eager to either defund the university for its misgivings and mistakes that have affected the school since August or try to snag some of that loose money.
“I’ve got 120 people that have come up to me to say, ‘I want a piece of that,’” Flanigan, himself a Mizzou grad, said. “I can’t cut the university to the point where it can’t function as a university, and I’m not about to take money from the university and giving it to another university. That’s not how it works.”
Flanigan seems receptive to both sides, understanding their concerns and wishes, while also detailing that he’s not looking to run the university from his budget chair seat. He is unsure how the fight will turn out on the floor, but added that none of the cuts made to the university were set in stone.
Flanigan also noted that this year marked the first time the budget had split appropriations for the university into separate campuses instead of just giving a lump sum to the university system overseers, the MU Board of Curators. Even with that change, Flanigan does not predict that the funding cuts will dictate what Mizzou does with that money, though it was designed not to affect students at the school.
“I’m not a micromanager. I wasn’t elected to micromanage the university,” he said. “When we cut $7.6 million out of the university’s university administration budget, we were looking to make sure we weren’t touching the students, because that wasn’t the idea. The idea was to get the attention of [Chancellor Hank] Foley and the guys running the show there… which we did. Whether all of those cuts make it all the way through I don’t know, it’s a process.”
Aside from the university, Flanigan and McCann-Beatty both believe the rest of the budget discussions are manageable. While the House budget is $223 million less than the recommendations from Gov. Jay Nixon, Flanigan notes that the House is just trying to hedge their bets with a 3.1 percent growth projection as opposed to the governor’s more optimistic 4.1 percent figure. With current growth hovering somewhere between those two numbers, Flanigan would prefer to stay on the safe side.
“We’re betting I can get you what you need at 3.1 percent growth,” Flanigan said. “I think that is very achievable. Our numbers tell us that is achievable. 4.1…” he trails off with a shrug. “We’re trying to be conservative about it.”
McCann Beatty would not mind to see a bit more in the budget, but she says Democrats made some victories.
“The budget process is a give and take, and you get some things in that you want, and some you don’t,” McCann Beatty said. “But I think overall we did some good things as it relates to health care and mental health. I think we did some good things as it relates to the Foundation formula and K-12 education. I wish we could have done a bit more, I think we’re about $15 million short of what the governor’s recommendation was, but overall I think we did some good things.”
Flanigan also reiterated Senate Appropriations Chair Schaefer’s call for the governor to stop withholding funds
“When they start withholding money from nursing homes or other programs, it’s hard on those people,” he said, before adding a caveat. “I’m not the governor, I don’t know what he sees, I don’t know what he’s looking at.”
Once the bills are passed through the House, they will move on to the Senate for further debate.
