Student government representatives are visiting the Iowa Capitol today to touch base with local legislators and let them know students are concerned about pending budget cuts to education.

“The budget cuts could be devastating to the students and faculty for Iowa State,” said Government of the Student Body President Andy Tofilon. “There are a lot of programs that will be downsized and eliminated.”

Gov. Tom Vilsack’s recommendation for about $300 million in cuts from his original $5 billion budget for 2002 includes a $60 million slash to the education budget, with about two-thirds coming out of the state’s regent universities.

Vilsack’s proposal would take about $18 million from Iowa State, but Republican negotiations are hovering around a $23 million cut from the university, said Charlie Johnson, GSB vice president.

“The proposed cuts will do irrepressible damage to our universities,” he said.

Students will be affected by these cuts in terms of tuition hikes over the next few years, Tofilon said. However, lawmakers said revenues in the state are low, so most state agencies are going to be hit by the economic crunch.

“Education got the cut along with everything else,” said Sen. Johnie Hammond, D-Ames. “The level of the cuts everywhere are not sustainable – it will hurt students and abused children, and you could go down the list. The level of the cuts Republicans are proposing is not acceptable. If they think we need to cut that much, then we need to repeal the tax cut.”

The goal of today’s trip is for student representatives to talk to their hometown legislators and get a general feeling of why they are making these cuts, Tofilon said.

“It is important for the students to speak out, because the legislators are elected officials,” he said. “We are a big voting block that is often ignored, and if we articulate our message and show that we are not just beer-drinking students, they will listen.”

It would be even more effective, Hammond said, if the parents of university-aged students, as well as the students, call their local legislators, but it is good for the students to voice their message.

“If the students remain silent, it will be a mandate for the legislature to do as they please in the future,” Johnson said.

Hammond said legislators need to keep students’ education at the forefront of the budget negotiations.

“This cut is going to reduce the quality of the education in our state institutions,” she said. “When you have larger sized classes and smaller number of classes to choose from, there will be a reduction in the quality of the education.”

It will take negotiating to settle the budget crunch, Hammond said, but education almost definitely will take a hit.

“Everyone needs to bear their load of the cuts,” she said.