If a new proposal to spend $350 million in funds from the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority is approved by the state legislature, North Central Missouri College would receive $2 million for its allied health building project.
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According to the plan presented by Gov. Matt Blunt to the Missouri Senate, community college would receive $30 million in MOHELA funding, with $6 million earmarked for buildings and maintenance while the remaining $24 million would be divided among the 12 community college districts in the state. This is an increase of $12 million from the first plan, which had met resistance from the legislature because of its strong focus on biotech research, in particular the possibility of stem-cell research at the University of Missouri being connected with projects funded by the plan.
NCMC President Dr. Neil Nuttall said a lot of behind-the-scenes work was done by local legislators in getting the community college funding included in the new plan and gave special kudos to Third District Rep. Jim Whorton, D-Trenton, and 13th District Sen. Brad Lager, R-Maryville, both of whom he said spent much time on this effort.
“Jim did a yeoman’s job in making sure community colleges were in the mix, especially NCMC,” Dr. Nuttall said, adding that Lager worked with officials on the Senate plan that will go before the legislature.
Dr. Nuttall has also spent considerable time in Jefferson City and on the telephone, talking with legislators about the need for community colleges to continue to receive MOHELA funding in the new proposal.
Should the plan get legislative approval and be signed by Gov. Blunt, Dr. Nuttall believes bids for the new allied health building could be advertised for in August and groundbreaking could take place this fall. The NCMC Board of Trustees is scheduled to review proposed drawings for the new allied health building at its monthly meeting in March.
According to The Associated Press, Gov. Blunt’s college construction plan has a new approach – one focused less on medical research, more on agriculture and ultimately on winning the support of enough hesitant lawmakers to pass.
Blunt’s economic development director outlined the project list Thursday, acknowledging it would have a smaller effect on Missouri’s economy than Blunt’s original idea but also promising it still would “deliver an enormous amount of money to higher education.”
The total price of the plan remains the same – $350 million, which would be siphoned over several years from the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority.
But the method of transferring that money to higher education institutions has changed. And so has the list of projects that would benefit.
Axed from the project list are the proposed medical and business research buildings that were objectionable to opponents of embryonic stem cell research. That includes the largest project in the former plan, a Health Sciences Research and Education Center at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Added to the list are agricultural projects in various parts of the state, an autism center and more funding for technical and community colleges.
The latest plan, as first reported by The Associated Press two weeks ago, essentially scraps an agreement reached last fall by Blunt’s administration and the MOHELA board under which the money would have been channeled to the colleges through a relatively obscure state development board.
Instead, the student loan agency is to pay the money into a new state fund from which lawmakers would make appropriations, similar to how other state expenditures are made.
The new approach also would give MOHELA specific authority to use its money for capital projects at public colleges and universities – an attempt to satisfy legal concerns that Blunt’s plan went beyond the scope of the student loan agency’s mission.
Those legal changes and the creation a new fund to receive MOHELA’s money are expected to be debated next week by the Senate as part of a broader higher education bill that also caps university tuition increases and folds the state’s two main financial-need-based scholarships into a new program.
The revised plan appears to have to two main goals – assuaging the concerns of some lawmakers opposed to embryonic stem cell research and broadening the base of support by adding projects around the state.
Rather than a setback for Blunt’s original plan, Department of Economic Development Director Greg Steinhoff characterized the revision as “a terrific result” that now has strong bipartisan support in the Legislature.
Blunt said in a statement that lawmakers have been enthusiastic about the new proposal.
“I believe he has successfully maneuvered through a challenging political environment to come up with a very strong proposal,” said Senate Education Committee Chairman Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, the lead sponsor of the bill.
But some lawmakers remain opposed.
Sen. Chuck Graham, D-Columbia, decried the elimination of medical research projects as a “desperate attempt” to win votes from anti-abortion lawmakers.
“They have run away from being a leader in the life sciences industry,” Graham said.
Others said the new approach still doesn’t address their concerns that the plan may not be financially feasible. They worry that taking money from MOHELA could hamper its ability to offer low interest rates and loan forgiveness programs to future Missouri students, though MOHELA executives insist otherwise. Opponents also cite a recent caution from analyst firm Liscarnan Solutions LLC that potential changes in federal student loan policies could affect MOHELA’s long-term ability to make the payments to the state.
“While the project list has changed, the fundamentals of the bill haven’t,” said Sen. Wes Shoemyer, D-Clarence.
The new approach was drafted with the help of Sen. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, an opponent of embryonic stem cell research. Crowell believed language in the old plan – restricting MOHELA money from going to buildings that could conduct such research – likely would have been struck down in court because of a constitutional amendment approved last November by voters.
That amendment guarantees that all federally allowed stem cell research can occur in Missouri and bars the government from denying money to entities because they conduct stem cell research.
The new plan makes no mention of stem cell research.
And with the new project list, Crowell said, “We’ve gotten away from many of the controversial possibilities of where you could find government dollars being used for embryonic stem cell research.”
Sen. Rob Mayer, R-Dexter, another embryonic stem cell research opponent who had expressed concerns about Blunt’s plan, said Thursday that he likely would support the revised plan.
“It looks like a good investment for the state,” Mayer said.
But the changes failed to satisfy Missouri Right to Life. The state’s largest anti-abortion group remains convinced that the voter-approved constitutional amendment could still result in money going to embryonic stem cell research.
“We still oppose the MOHELA deal. There’s no way from what we see to keep that money from going to life-destroying research,” president Pam Fichter said.