Friday News Roundup: Week of May 7-11

Pennsylvania Senate approves alternative to governor’s budget

Missouri legislature sends budget to governor

Kansas House rejects state employee raises, allocates funds for disabled

University of Minnesota regents take wary look at proposed pay, tuition increases

Pennsylvania Senate approves alternative to governor’s budget
The Pennsylvania Senate this week passed a fiscal year 2013 budget plan that restores many of the cuts laid out in Governor Tom Corbett’s proposed budget. The budget, which must be signed by the governor by July 1 according to state law, passed the Senate and moved to the House for approval. It assumes state tax revenue will exceed earlier projections by about $900 million in fiscal years 2012 and 2013 and uses that additional money to increase spending in fiscal year 2013 by about $500 million over the levels Corbett proposed. The increased spending would help to temper proposed cuts to public colleges and universities. It would also increase aid for low-income school districts by $50 million over Corbett’s request. Similarly, it would provide an additional $50 million for accountability block grants, which school districts frequently use to fund full-day kindergarten programs. More here…

Missouri legislature sends budget to governor
Missouri lawmakers voted this week to approve a budget for fiscal year 2013 totaling $24 billion. The budget, now awaiting Governor Jay Nixon’s approval before the start of the fiscal year on July 1, 2012 increases funding for higher education by $3 million from 2012 levels, split across 7 public universities. It also retains funding for one department at the University of Missouri-St. Louis that had been on the chopping block in negotiations earlier this week. The $3 million will be used to help balance funding disparities across the universities. Another bill passed this week diverts revenue earned through casino fees from early childhood education to veterans homes. Instead, funds for early childhood education will come from a settlement reached in a national tobacco lawsuit. Governor Nixon stated that he planned to look carefully at the budget over the next several weeks before signing it. More here…

Kansas House rejects state employee raises, allocates funds for disabled
The Kansas state House voted this week to move $50 million in fiscal year 2013 funding from the transportation department to public K-12 education. Under the funding plan proposed by the House, basic state aid to schools would increase in the 2013 school year by $37 per pupil over current-year levels; that provision will cost the state $25 million. An amendment to devote half of the $25 million to kindergarten-through-fourth-grade literacy efforts failed. Another $25 million taken from the Kansas Department of Transportation budget would provide supplementary property tax aid to school districts. In contrast, a Senate proposal would add $50 million for basic state aid to schools, or $74 per pupil more than the state paid out in fiscal year 2012, and $27 million for property tax funding. The Senate plan allocates the money from the state’s surplus, rather than moving it from another agency. The state legislative session is scheduled to end this week, but with numerous tasks still on its agenda, the legislature may extend the session. More here…

University of Minnesota regents take wary look at proposed pay, tuition increases
The University of Minnesota recently proposed a fiscal year 2013 budget that would increase faculty salaries by 2.5 percent, in-state undergraduate tuition by 3.5 percent, and total spending by 1.5 percent over fiscal year 2012 levels. The Board of Regents, though, is asking for more details on the proposed tuition hike before approving the plan. The tuition growth would raise the cost of attendance to $12,060 for in-state residents, not including fees, room, and board; additionally, out-of-state tuition would increase by 4 percent, up to $17,310. In total, the tuition increase would add $24.6 million to the university’s revenue next year. In addition to increasing salaries for staff and faculty, the extra spending would fund more merit scholarships, new hiring, and a new Center for Social Media at the university. State funding, meanwhile, has declined in recent years and will reach 1998 levels next year. When the university received a smaller cut to state funding than anticipated last year, it saved much of the money to apply to its fiscal year 2013 budget. More here…