Bruce Rastetter
Board of Regents President Bruce Rastetter says he is not giving up on a controversial plan to redistribute state funds to the three state-supported universities. The plan would give 60-percent of state money to the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa based on how many Iowa students are enrolled.
Neither the Iowa House nor the Senate education budget includes money for the proposal, but Rastetter says that’s not the final word. “We’re confident that by the end of the session we will still be successful with performance funding,”Rastetter says. “And we’ll continue to work with both the house and senate toward successful completion of that.” The University of Iowa has fewer in-state students right now and Rastetter wants 12 million dollars to phase in the plan to so the school is not harmed in the transition.
Rastetter says he’ll keep working with lawmakers. “I think we’re doing that. I think we’ll have performance funding in the budget. We’re communicating every day to them. Our lobbyists are there, I’m there, and we’ll continue to do that work,” according to Rastetter.
Rastetter says they’re also lobbying for an increase in state funds so they can handle another tuition freeze.