Blake Benson, chairman of the Kansas Board of Regents, says a modest $4.6 million cut in state aid to higher education may be palatable to the Kansas Legislature, which is likely to pursue greater budget austerity in the upcoming session. In this image, Benson tours the Wichita State University campus with other members of the Board of Regents in October 2024. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)
TOPEKA — The Kansas Board of Regents answered political pressure to avoid aggressive 2026 budget requests for public universities and colleges by endorsing a plan calling for a $4.6 million cut from the current year’s state appropriation.
Blake Benson, chairman of the Kansas higher education board, praised the cooperative effort during the past three months to shrink the size of a preliminary version of the budget drafted in June. The final $1.1 billion budget outline recognized that massive, aspirational spending requests for higher education were unlikely to be warmly received by lawmakers during the legislative session starting in January, he said.
“The message was loud and clear that this budget needed to look much more like this,” Benson said. “The regents carefully evaluated our system’s needs and priorities and developed a request that meets those while remaining fiscally responsible.”
The state’s higher education system has continued to face financial pressure from rising operational costs and limited flexibility to respond to emerging needs.
John Dicus, a Topeka banker and member of the Board of Regents, said the budget plan was a collaboration among the Board of Regents, campus administrators, the governor’s budget director and Republican leaders in the House and Senate.
“This is something we tried to vet with them this year to make sure we got across the finish line,” Dicus said.
In a previous meeting on the budget, Dicus said overly ambitious spending proposals from college and university administrators could trigger further budget cuts. He said maintaining existing levels of state aid for higher education would be viewed as success in 2026.
The Board of Regents, with authority over 32 universities, community colleges and technical colleges, voted to ask the governor and legislators to invest $5.5 million in the Blueprint for Literacy next year. It’s a state-created program to overhaul K-12 reading instruction in Kansas to reverse student academic deficiencies.
The 2025 Legislature dropped funding for Blueprint for Literacy. Residual funding from an initial $10 million state appropriation for the program kept it from going dark.
“This is a nationwide problem and some states are putting in a lot more money than we do,” said Kathy Wolfe Moore, a former Democratic House member who was appointed to the Board of Regents in 2024. “We have to approve the Blueprint for Literacy and go after it with a vengeance in the state Legislature. This is foundational.”
The Board of Regents requested $15 million be invested in $5 million increments on energy research at the University of Kansas, Kansas State University and Wichita State University. KU would concentrate on energy production, while K-State would focus on nuclear power. WSU researchers would delve into alternative energy sources.
The proposed budget included $4 million each for the three smaller state institutions — Pittsburg State University, Fort Hays State University and Emporia State University.
Blake Flanders, president and CEO of the Board of Regents, said the budget included $16.3 million in ongoing support to recruit, retain and graduate students at technical colleges, community colleges and the universities.
The plan included $2 million to help with degree completion for Kansans with some college experience but no diploma. It contained $1.5 million for Washburn University to address workforce development.
He said the budget request recognized state tax dollars would need to be matched with $3 million or $4 million from the universities.
“We’re asking for a portion and a partnership,” Flanders said. “That’s a partnership that functions when both parties are participating.”
The comprehensive budget proposal for the fiscal year starting July 1, 2026, must be submitted to the governor’s office by Oct. 1. The Republican-controlled House and Senate would review and modify budgets for higher education, and the Legislature’s bill would be subject to line-item vetoes by the Democratic governor.
