Governor Brownback speaking to reporters earlier this month. (Photo by Stephen Koranda)Governor Sam Brownback has been on an all-out tour of state universities this week, calling on state lawmakers to extend a sales tax and maintain funding for higher education in the coming budget. The house and senate’s current proposals would hit KU Med Center particularly hard. Officials there say they’d face a more than 10 percent reduction in funds, putting their prestigious national cancer institute designation at risk and reducing the number of medical students admitted each year. Brownback stopped at KU med this afternoon to stress that Kansas needs those future doctors, especially in rural areas.
Brownback hopes an interim study of the state’s regents or higher education programs will convince lawmakers the state can’t afford to further cut university funding.