The legislature’s education budget bill calling for a $39.9 million cut to the Board of Regents general fund was passed Tuesday by the House and now faces the Senate.

Support for the bill in the House largely followed party affiliation, with only two Republicans joining the Democrats in their vote of no.

“I voted no for the bill because it does have those cuts to higher education, which I feel is the wrong direction,” said Rep. Lisa Heddens, D-Ames.

Heddens said she’s been communicating with professors, administrators, college students, families and, for the first time ever, high school seniors concerned about the budget cuts.

“People are recognizing, I think more than ever, the cuts that are going on and the impact that it’s going to have on our educational system and the student budget or the family budget,” Heddens said.

Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, D-Ames, co-sponsored an amendment that would have brought the Board of Regent’s budget up to last year’s spending, which was what they asked for, but that amendment did not pass.

“One of the things I argued in my amendment was that 57 of the legislators have benefited from higher education supported by our taxes,” Wessel-Kroeschell said. “Since the 57 of us had benefited from tax dollars, we should continue to give that benefit to Iowa’s young people.”

The chance of the bill passing in the Senate seems unlikely considering the Democrats are in the majority.

“The bill is awful, and the Senate basically will be starting over,” said Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames. “We have sufficient funds to continue funding at last year’s level, and I think we need to, beyond that, begin building back the support, not cut further.”

The controversy surrounding not only the education budget bill, but all budget bills, stems from Gov. Terry Branstad’s insistence on a two-year budget. Branstad has said that he will veto any bill that does not include a two-year budget.

“The two-year budget restores integrity, sustainability and accountability to the state’s general fund budget,” said Tim Albrecht, communications director for Branstad. “You have the first year’s budget and then also a second year’s budget, so then you can see exactly how your decisions today will affect the programs of tomorrow.”

But some members of the Legislature disagree that this is the best solution for Iowa.

“The issue that it comes down to is that we don’t have the numbers to know what we’re basing our projections on,” Heddens said. “If you’re looking at a 2013 budget but you only have 2012 numbers, in my opinion, that could mean additional cuts to higher education, increases to tuition and the consolidation of educational departments.”

If the legislature decides to pass a bill that includes only a one-year budget, as was done with the transportation budget bill, the only question remaining is whether Branstad will continually veto a bill that doesn’t include a two-year budget.

If this happens, the Legislature must draft another bill and, with only a short time left in the legislative season, this could mean legislators must return for special sessions.

“Not knowing if we can negotiate a decent package, which would be more fair to people like students at Iowa State means we could be there for quite a long time,” Wessel-Kroeschell said.