Amid strong criticisms of Bevin, Capilouto will need support of students, parents

Kentucky governor Matt Bevin addresses the Commonwealth with his budget for the next two years on Tuesday at the Capitol building in Frankfort. The budget included a $110 million cut from UK’s state general funding over the next two years.

By Will Wright

President Eli Capilouto pulled an unusual move Wednesday by publicly — and candidly — criticizing Gov. Matt Bevin and his proposed budget cuts to UK.

University presidents have historically held a significant amount of pull in Frankfort, but that influence is usually, at least in public, used gently.

Capilouto’s address called cuts to UK’s general fund — 4.5 percent this fiscal year and 9 percent the following year — “draconian.”

It remains unclear whether or not Capilouto’s speech will lead to softer budget cuts, but Rep. Reginald Meeks, co-chair of the Subcommittee on Postsecondary Education, said it explained to legislators how important UK is to the state, and how damaging the cuts could be.

“All too often I think people who come before legislative committees feel compelled to … couch their comments in ways that soften the blow. President Capilouto doesn’t have anything to fear in terms of retaliation,” Meeks said. “The president’s comments were unusually straightforward and direct. I think they were designed to have an effect — to raise awareness of how this budget is a step backwards.”

While Capilouto got his message across to legislators, other university presidents have not come forward in the same level of protest.

UK professor of political science Donald Gross said the other presidents will likely be supportive, but less public in their criticisms.

“To get into a public dispute … is not the normal way of doing things,” Gross said. “The question for the governor is going to be, ‘Can the university exert power on the state legislature and the governor?’”

That kind of influence rides, Gross said, on whether or not students and their parents will engage their legislators about the proposed budget cuts.

Meeks agreed, saying that many of the problems in Kentucky stem from apathy among the population — the feeling that what goes on in Frankfort does not impact them directly. State representatives are not being held accountable for how they spend money and what laws they pass, he said.

“I think paying attention and letting us know and letting the administration know that they’re paying attention … I think that’s critical,” Meeks said.

Aside from the cuts, Capilouto asked the committee to approach outcomes-based funding carefully, especially because no model exists that explains how the system would work in Kentucky.

Jessica Ditto, spokeswoman for the governor, said Bevin will continue working with each university president to find ways to save money over the next 30 months.

“We appreciate that these budget cuts are challenging. Unfortunately, we have inherited a financial mess and there are no better alternatives,” Ditto wrote in an email to the Kentucky Kernel. “If we do not make these cuts we are going to have to raise taxes, increase our debt, or take away from our state worker and teacher pensions ­— all of which we cannot afford to do.”

Performance-based funding, proposed by Bevin in his budget, would divvy up a third of the state’s money for public universities to institutions that train students with skills in science, technology, engineering and math.

The exact details of how the universities would be judged is still unclear. Meeks said that, according to an announcement after Capilouto’s speech, the model for performance-based funding would not be released until after the legislative session has ended.

Meeks criticized the timing, saying the legislature needs the model before the legislative session ends, so legislators know how much money to allocate to each university in their own budget.

Both Democrats and Republicans were “taken aback” by when the model would be released, Meeks said.

Bevin will take a thoughtful and deliberate approach when developing the plan, Ditto said, and will accept feedback from all sides before making any final plan.