NCMC To Benefit From Legislative Agreement

If the Missouri Legislature approves a compromise reached on Wednesday by a joint House-Senate negotiating committee, North Central Missouri College stands to receive around $200,000 in additional state funding next year.
That’s because the committee, working on the state budget, agreed to a 4 percent increase in core funding for Missouri’s higher education institutions as well as reinstated performance-based funding that had been removed by the Senate in its original budget proposal. The 4 percent increase would give two-year and four-year institutions around $37 million more in core funding while $4.5 million is being made available in performance-based money.
The compromise still faces approval by both the House and Senate. The House was expected to begin debate on the proposal this morning with possible approval and movement to the Senate floor this afternoon.
NCMC President Dr. Neil Nuttall said the compromise is good news for the college which, like other institutions, continues to look for ways to keep tuition rates low while meeting increased operational costs.
“That was one of the things we (the chancellors and presidents) wanted to do is to hold the line and not have to raise tuition for our students,” he said. “But with the increased costs we face, especially in the areas of health care and utility costs, we have to look at ways to meet those expenses. If this passes, this will allow us to keep our tuition the same and continue to offer our students an affordable education.”
Gov. Jay Nixon called for a 6 percent increase, which he said would be enough for universities to freeze tuition next year. But a 4 percent increase would still be enough to hold down tuition, said Paul Wagner, executive director of the Council on Public Higher Education, which represents the presidents and chancellors of Missouri’s 13 public, four-year universities.
Budget negotiators from the Missouri House and Senate also agreed to scale back proposed funding cuts to the University of Missouri.
According to The Associated Press, the deal comes amid a legislative session during which lawmakers have sharply criticized the university after student protests last fall that thrust it into the national spotlight. And though lawmakers said the university still needs to reckon with serious problems, including an anticipated enrollment drop, its relationship with the Legislature has recovered since the beginning of the year.
Budget writers from both chambers decided to reduce a proposed $7.6 million cut to the university system’s administration to less than $4 million. They also eliminated a proposal to cut $1 million from the Columbia campus.
University officials have faced criticism for how they handled the protests last year over administrators’ perceived indifference to racism, which ended with resignations from the system president and the chancellor of the Columbia campus.
Many House lawmakers have said budget cuts are the only way to ensure the university does a better job of addressing student concerns, and the chamber voted against both parties’ leadership to approve deeper cuts to the Columbia campus.
But the lawmakers negotiating the final budget plan including several members who represented areas with University of Missouri campuses, including Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, Rep. Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, and Sen. Dan Brown, R-Rolla.
“When you have people that care a lot about the university on conference committee, that usually yields results,” said Rep. Scott Fitzpatrick, the Shell Knob Republican who is vice-chair of the budget committee.
Schaefer has warned that deep budget cuts could hurt students and low-level employees rather than administrators. Instead, he has proposed forming a commission to review the University of Missouri’s system’s policies, which is budgeted to receive $750,000.
Some lawmakers said despite the broad increases, the spending plan continues long-running funding inequities for the state’s historically black colleges. Although the budget includes a $1.5 million increase for Lincoln University’s land grant, they said several items for Harris-Stowe State University remained excluded or underfunded.
“Black colleges are being treated so unfairly,” said Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, a Democrat from St. Louis. “It’s kind of racist.”
Schaefer said he took offense to that, adding that Harris-Stowe needs to improve its performance indicators, such as student retention, before lawmakers reward it with more money.