Missouri governor calls for restoring money for university

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon called on lawmakers Friday to restore proposed budget cuts for the University of Missouri and boost education funding above the spending plan that passed the House last week.

The House voted Thursday to pass a budget that cuts more than $8 million from the University of Missouri System and its Columbia campus, with many Republicans and some Democrats saying administrators haven't addressed concerns over how it handled student protests in the fall.

The governor said the university administration has shown it is tackling its problems, and cutting the university's funding would wind up hurting students.

"Making students pay more tuition is not the way to send a message to anybody," Nixon said.

House Speaker Todd Richardson has said there is no reason students should be affected by the cuts. More than $7.6 million of the cuts are directed toward the system's administration, while another $1 million would come from the Columbia campus.

Nixon said the University of Missouri's administration has gone to great lengths to address concerns raised after November's unrest, when students protested what they saw as administrators' indifference to racism on campus. The protests culminated in the resignation of the system president and chancellor of the Columbia campus. The university has instituted new diversity training and appointed an interim vice chancellor for inclusion, diversity and equality.

"The new president, new administration are doing incredible things to try to make sure we're dealing with issues as far as discrimination," he said. "They're responding and working."

Nixon, a Democrat, has frequently been at odds with the Republican-led Legislature. He vetoed 18 bills last year, and the Legislature overrode 11 of those vetoes.

Nixon's budget called for a 6 percent increase to performance funding to universities, which he said would prevent tuition from rising next year. Lawmakers granted a 2 percent increase -- but not to the University of Missouri.

The system is budgeted to receive $428 million of state funding this fiscal year, which ends June 30. State funding comprises about 15 percent of its budget. University officials are anticipating a drop in enrollment will lead to a budget shortfall of tens of millions of dollars.

The House budgeted about $70 million to increase core funding to K-12 schools -- roughly $15 million less than the governor proposed, and about $440 million less than what it would take to fully fund public schools under the state's foundation formula, the legal guidelines on how much money schools should get from the state.

"I'm deeply troubled at a trend that has already developed: a repeated failure to prioritize public education, and a cynical attempt to hide it," Nixon said.

The governor cited a Senate bill passed recently that would change the school funding guidelines to require less money and the House's plan to fund some education programs through a surplus fund that would have money only if revenue exceeds the expectations of lawmakers. He said that money might not become available until it is too late in the fiscal year to spend it.

Nixon blamed the state's tight finances on a tax cut -- instituted over his veto in 2014 -- that is due to kick in next year. He also pointed to more than 40 bills in the Legislature that would cut taxes further, none of which have been passed yet.