By MATT PIKE
During the legislative session in Missouri, discussions on funding for higher education are ongoing with one model that could affect Missouri Western State University.
Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe has proposed a flat budget for higher education, that would help everyone.
MoWest Government Relations Officer Jerry Pickman says on the other hand however, a distribution model proposed by the House Budget Committee, would hurt several public universities
"This week, House Budget Committee Chair Representative Dirk Deaton had proposed a budget that would shift higher education to a point in time full time equivalent model, the model doesn’t really reflect the operational cost of running a university,” Pickman says on the KFEQmunnity show. “Under that proposal MoWest could see significant funding reductions along with five of the other four-year institutions in the state.”
Pickman says this model would be a big change
"What Representative Deaton is proposing is really pretty significant, we could see universities losing anywhere between, in our case it would be about $7 million in our core appropriation, others $5 million up to $27 million, so it’s quite a change,” Pickman explains. And as he referred to it kind of a paradigm shift for funding for higher education, we really don’t operate with a solid funding model at this time, it’s kind of over the years depending on certainly the revenues coming into the state, but also what political levers can be pulled at the time.”
In order to advocate more for the university, MoWest has created the Regional Advocacy Coalition bringing together several entities to voice their support for the university and advocate for its importance.
Pickman says an effort like this is important because representatives hear from the university, but they should hear from the people directly impacted
"We’re just on such sa ride right now, we have such wonderful momentum, and you know we went through some rough years, I worked at the university prior for 16 years, left for a few years and I came back about two and a half years ago, and I can tell you I’m so proud of where we are as a university,” Pickman says. “Because we have transformed, we have reinvented ourselves, we know where we’re going and where we want to be, and so we want to keep that momentum going because we know we can continue to make a major impact on northwest Missouri.”
To get involved, you can write a letter of support and contact Pickman to be a part of the effort.
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.