If we didn’t have enough reason to hope for Congress and the White House to pass a new stimulus package for coronavirus relief, add this one to the pile: Without the bill, K-State could face additional losses in funding from the state government.
Gov. Laura Kelly stopped by the offices of The Mercury on Thursday after visiting researchers at K-State’s Biosecurity Research Institute who are working on projects related to coronavirus vaccines.
Congress and the White House so far can’t seem to agree on some of the details in a stimulus bill that would help keep state and local governments afloat while they navigate COVID-19’s many ill effects, including a major recession.
Gov. Kelly said in the previous fiscal year, the Department of Education provided Kansas $26 million for Kansas Board of Regents institutions from the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund.
Kelly essentially subtracted that $26 million from universities’ allocation from the state general fund and replaced it with the $26 million Kansas received from the federal government.
That allowed the state to keep from reducing funding to K-State and other schools.
Also, Kelly’s spokeswoman said Friday, the SPARK (Strengthening People and Revitalizing Kansas) committee provided the regents with an additional $55.5 million. The SPARK allocation is all new money and won’t replace the SGF allocation.
Those things were essentially ways to keep the state general fund healthy while ensuring that universities still got their funding.
Now what happens if the federal government doesn’t pass a new stimulus for fiscal year 2021, which started in July? Kansas’ public universities — as well as the state as a whole — would be in dire straits.
Gov. Kelly said she expects something to happen soon, but if it doesn’t, that would mean some hard choices.
K-State, which has already dealt with declining enrollment, has announced a funding shortfall of at least $35 million and the furlough of about 1,800 employees. The loss of state funding would be disastrous.
Let’s hope the Republicans and Dems can get together and work out a deal. It will be crucial for a lot of parties, but K-State will be in a world of hurt if it has to endure the double whammy of lower revenue from the state as well as from students.
