MoWest president advocates against MO House Higher Ed funding bill
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) -- Missouri Western State University, as well as other higher education campuses across Missouri, are in danger of losing millions of dollars in funding.
Missouri House Bill 2003 set the higher education funding to be distributed based off of full-time enrollment instead of the current funding model.
"When you look at what the folks in the Capitol have been doing for education in general, this should be a cause for concern for people," MoWest President Elizabeth Kennedy said.
In the proposed new formula, MoWest would received approximately $21 million in funding from the state— which is about $6 million less than what Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe has proposed for the upcoming fiscal year.
"Our health insurance, our property insurance, retirement and other factors are almost 57%, more than half of what we get from the state, goes just to keep up us rolling," Kennedy said.
Kennedy said that using a full-time enrollment formula does not paint the full picture for some schools and universities. She said a lot of MoWest students are not enrolled as full-time students.
"One of the things I'd like to point out is that if I have four part-time students to be equivalent to one," Kennedy said. "Each of those four part-time students are going to need a Registrar, a financial aid coordinator, a tutor and a librarian to help them."
House Bill 2003 narrowly passed with an 83-66 vote and four present votes.
The 83 "ayes" were just one over the required 82 "ayes" to pass. In the bill, schools like the University of Missouri and Missouri State University benefit from the full-time enrollment compared to smaller schools.
Mizzou would receive approximately $542 million and Missouri State receives approximately $146 million. Up in Maryville, Northwest Missouri State could receive $48 million from state funding if the bill passes.
However, the bill is running into road blocks in the Missouri Senate. Last week, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee, led by Sen. Rusty Black (R-District 12), decided that it will support the Governor's original funding plan for colleges and community colleges.
Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer (R-District 34) said he is also in support of the Governor's budget and does not believe that full-time enrollment serves in the best interest of schools and universities.
"Just looking at the enrollment of a particular four-year university, I don't think is an accurate measure for setting the budgets for those universities," Luetkemeyer said.
A $6 million cut might not come to be for MoWest's funding, but if it does, the effects could prove to be devastating.
"We have already made the great pivot, and put ourselves in a position to add the economic and development and prosperity of our community, our region and the state more so than anybody else, but to do a cut like that right now would eliminate the opportunity," Kennedy said.
The full Senate will have to vote on House Bill 2003 and if it does not pass, the House and Senate budget writers will have work on a plan that both can agree on to send to the Governor.
