Faced with the prospect of having the decision made for them, the Kansas Board of Regents on Wednesday voted to commit to spending a proposed $10.3 million discretionary fund, if approved by the Kansas Legislature, on much-needed maintenance and upgrades for aging university facilities.
As part of her proposed budget for the 2022 fiscal year, Gov. Laura Kelly partially offset a $37.4 general fund reduction for state universities with a proposed $10.3 million allocation to the regents to distribute at their discretion. The $10.3 million allocation was calculated as the budget increase university funding would have seen, if university employees had otherwise been included in Kelly’s plan to give state employees a 2.5% salary increase.