A disparity between the level of funding requested by the Board of Regents and a House appropriations committee for next year has raised concerns about support for higher education.

A budget proposal from the House Education Appropriations Subcommittee falls drastically short of previous recommendations by the Board of Regents. The budget calls for a $6.3 million increase to the budgets of Iowa State, the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa — much lower than the $40 million request the regents had put in.

Gov. Tom Vilsack included the increase in his budget recommendations.

Gary Steinke, deputy executive and public affairs director for the Board of Regents, said House members underestimated their numbers, so as to provide a budget target for the Senate Education Committee as it works to release its own version. The numbers will be released Wednesday.

“The House proposal is totally inadequate,” said Sen. Michael Connolly, D-Dubuque, co-chairman of the Senate Education Committee. “I expect the numbers to be higher. I think we need to fully fund the regent institutions.”

Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, D-Ames, a member of the House subcommittee, said she was disappointed with the level of funding and hoped the numbers would increase once the Senate’s version of the bill was released.

Wessel-Kroeschell said the bill now must be approved by the House Education Committee and does not expect substantial changes to the bill.

Representatives for the Board of Regents said the proposal is the first of many steps in a series of discussions in the General Assembly.

“We are pleased that they had seen fit to provide an increase, but do not feel it is adequate,” said Robert Downer, acting board president. “It’s frankly an improvement from what we’ve seen in the past five years; however, we do feel we have had made a case for the $40 million and are still strongly supportive of that.”

Regent university funding was cut by nearly $162 million during the past four years, which led to nearly 60 percent increases in tuition since the 1999-00 school year. Tuition rates, which rely on state funding, experienced a 4 percent hike for the next academic year. A supplemental increase could be adopted by the regents if the $40 million request is not met.

Andy Baumert, state relations officer for Iowa State, said ISU officials plan to push for full funding. Since it is still fairly early in the session, Baumert said, the numbers have not been set in stone, which leaves room for increases. He also said funding levels would be contingent on whether the state passes an 80-cent cigarette tax hike requested by Vilsack.

Quirmbach said a hike in cigarette taxes would take stress off Medicaid funding, which has been biting into education funding.