Iowa State’s Government of the Student Body senators had an opportunity to voice their concerns about the proposed budget cuts in the Iowa Legislature Wednesday when they met with Lt. Gov. Sally Pederson in the Memorial Union.

Pederson said she was happy to meet with GSB members since it gave her a chance to explain the impact of Gov. Tom Vilsack’s budget on students and what they can do about it.

“The way this will be determined is by constituents putting pressure on the legislators,” she said. “We’re in the mode now where citizens need to weigh in.”

During the meeting, Pederson explained how the governor’s state budget works and why the state is not allocating as much money to the regent institutions this year.

Pederson said two reasons for the lack of state funds this year are due to the $720 million in tax cuts the Legislature has made in previous years and the depletion of the state’s surplus budget.

“You make choices about how you’re going to allocate that money,” she said. “What our balanced budget did was say where our priorities were.”

Pederson also said regent universities are not receiving as much money in the governor’s budget because more money is being put toward other education needs such as community colleges and programs in public elementary and secondary schools.

She said while the governor’s budget does not fully finance Iowa State, it is still a better plan than the Legislature’s proposal.

“We’re making investments in education, but it’s not just the regent universities,” Pederson said. “You’re not our only constituents.”

GSB President-elect Ben Golding said he does not fully agree that the governor’s budget will be best for Iowa State, and he thinks the governor’s proposal should represent all of the education interests equally.

“They started down a path, and the Legislature took it to the next step,” he said. “They would love to have us focus our attentions on the Republicans in the Legislature and forget that these cuts began with the governor.”

But Pederson said the regent universities will not face a repeat of these budget cuts next year if the governor’s proposal is accepted.

“We feel [the regent institutions] can probably deal with it for one year,” she said. “We made a promise to the regents, and we keep our promises.”

Pederson also said students need to voice their opinions about the different budgets to their legislators through e-mail and letters.

“I think if students speak up about how the budget impacts their lives, the Legislature will listen,” she said. “It makes a big difference; they pay attention.”

Pederson’s belief in the importance of student opinion is shared by many of the GSB senators.

“I don’t think there’s a single thing that would unite students more than this,” Golding said, and he added he is “very, very pumped” about the trip he and other ISU students will be taking to Des Moines on March 28.

Golding said about 40 ISU students will join students from the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa to lobby state legislators about the education cuts and hold a rally during the trip.

GSB President Matt Craft also said he thinks student involvement will make a big difference in the Legislature’s decision.

“Every year, we’re upset about tuition increases,” he said. “So if you’ve got problems about this big tuition increase, you need to start now and not wait until September.”