Miscommunication and scheduling conflicts limited the number of state legislators who were expected to attend an event supporting higher education Wednesday.

The Meet the Future of Iowa banquet and program had Gov. Tom Vilsack slated to be the keynote speaker, but he did not attend, along with a number of other legislators.

Jennifer Mullin, spokeswoman for the governor, said Vilsack did not receive an invitation to the event.

“Education is obviously one of the governor’s top priorities,” she said. “It would have been something we were interested in, but we did not receive an invitation.”

Angela Groh, Government of the Student Body director of government relations and organizer of the event, said the regents’ office handled the governor’s invitation to the event.

Gary Steinke, deputy director and public affairs director for the Board of Regents, said the Board did offer advice for the event, but the students handled all of the mechanics.

“I never delivered an invitation to the governor or the governor’s office, and I never received a written RSVP,” Steinke said.

Groh said the fact that the governor was not there was not the main issue.

Only two of the 25 state legislators who confirmed reservations were in attendance during the program part of the evening. A block of seats at the ISU men’s basketball game were reserved for attendees of the event following the program. Tickets were $25.

Some of the House representatives who had missed the program because of a long session did attend the game.

Steinke said the senators were invited to another event that was scheduled for the same time, and it was an important event in which the senators were talking to constituents.

According to the Secretary of the Senate office, the event scheduled for that night was the Mid-Iowa Economic Development Corporation from 6 to 8 p.m. Meet the Future of Iowa was scheduled from 6:10 to 6:45 p.m.

A significant number of the legislators who confirmed reservations to the event were from the House of Representatives.

The House debated until late Wednesday, meaning many House members were not able to make it to the event, Steinke said.

Groh said the date for Meet the Future of Iowa was set a year ago and could not be planned around events that were scheduled after the date was set.

She said the event went well from the point of view of GSB and ISU Ambassadors, as more than 200 people were in attendance.

She said she was in contact with many of the legislators who had expressed interest in meeting with ISU students again. Groh said a meeting is in the works to allow this to happen.

Groh said ISU students will continue to work with the Statehouse, the governor and the Regents to ensure the Partnership for Transformation and Excellence remains a high priority. The partnership is intended to restore lost funding for the state’s regent institutions and keep tuition increases to a predictable, manageable level.