With state revenue projections still unclear, Iowa legislators said they are hesitant to make a long-term commitment to higher education funding.

The Board of Regents approved a plan last week to partner with the Iowa Legislature for annual funding increases of $40 million each of the next four years to help the three regent universities provide quality education.

If the Legislature agrees to the requested allocations, the universities will also internally redirect $1 for every $2 spent by the state.

According to the regents, the proposal would help the institutions make up for state funding shortfalls during the past four years, which have led to increased tuition and large budget cuts.

Appropriations for university education this fiscal year are $102.3 million less than they were in 2001.

Legislators said they are not opposed to the concept of the partnership, however.

“I think it is something, conceptually, that I am personally supportive of and something the Legislature should support,” said Rep. Bill Dix, R-Shell Rock, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

However, Dix said, it’s too early to tell if it will be feasible for the Legislature to make such a commitment, as a better picture of the level of funds available is needed.

“We don’t want to make promises we can’t keep,” he said. “We have gotten ourselves in trouble in the past by spending more money than what’s projected to come in.”

Rep. Jim Kurtenbach, R-Nevada, said he agreed that current state funding commitments could trump the board’s spending request.

“Given the number of items we’ve already committed to for Medicaid and education overall in the state, I doubt the full $40 million will occur each year, but we’ll work closely with the university to get as close to their targets as possible,” Kurtenbach said.

State Democrats, have also voiced their support for a strengthened partnership and greater commitment to Iowa’s educational system. Yet there are those Democrats who criticize the regents’ plan.

“I think it’s strategically ill-conceived,” said Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames. “With the $20 million a year in reallocation, the message from the regents to the Legislature is, ‘The $80 million we’re currently getting from the state Legislature, we’re not spending as well as we should be.’ They’re saying, ‘In order to get us to spend that $80 million better, we want you to give us $116 million in new money.'”

Quirmbach, associate professor of economics, said he’s frightened this perceived message will make the request easier for Republicans to deny.

“I’m afraid that my Republican colleagues will say, ‘Go spend the $80 million better and, only after that, come back and ask us for money,”‘ he said.

Fellow Sen. Stewart Iverson, R-Dows — the senate’s majority leader — said, to the contrary, that he’s pleased to see the board’s willingness to reallocate.

“The regents are trying to use a business-style approach that industries use to prioritize competing funding for resources, which I believe can drive very positive change in the overall cost and quality of higher education in the future,” Iverson said. “The question isn’t, ‘Are they spending their money wisely now?’ but, ‘Are there ways we can better spend our money?'”

Similarly, Board of Regents President John Forsyth said the reallocation stipulation was used to provide incentives for innovative thinking.

“When you don’t have incentive, it’s hard to think outside of the box and create innovative ideas for change,” Forsyth said. “It’s easier to incent change than force change.”

Quirmbach said his feelings pertain only to the regents’ strategy and not their goal for maintaining quality, affordable education in Iowa, as he has supported increasing university budgets.

Gov. Tom Vilsack has also publicly said a stronger commitment is needed from the Legislature to fund a “world-class education system” to help transform Iowa’s economy.

Yet Republican legislators have argued that additional spending could result in higher taxes.

“We have a pie that is only so big,” Iverson said. “There is no money tree in Iowa.”

The four-year appropriation increase would require taxpayers to pay an additional $14 per year, although regents are not specifically asking for a tax increase.

Board of Regents Executive Director Gregory Nichols said the plan’s purpose is to provide more predictability for tuition rates. If funding levels are met, the need for tuition increases beyond those required by inflation would be eliminated, he said.