Iowa Board of Regents universities facing an additional $2.8 million in state cuts

The Board of Regents’ public universities learned Friday afternoon they’ll have to cut another $2.8 million from their current-year budgets as part of $11.5 million in Department of Management reductions that had to be parsed out among various state agencies.

The cuts are part of a statewide $117.8 million de-appropriation package lawmakers passed in January in response to budget shortfalls, but the Department of Management had 30 days to decide how to implement its $11.5 million in cuts.

The new $2.8 million in Board of Regents reductions are the largest among any agency in this second round of reductions, and they come on top of $18 million in cuts lawmakers already approved for the board in the current budget year. When divvied up, the $18 million took $8 million each from University of Iowa and Iowa State University and $2 million from University of Northern Iowa.

The new regents cuts are split as follows: $1.2 million from UI, nearly $1 million from ISU, and $522,500 from UNI. The Department of Management cuts announced Friday also took another $1.8 million from community colleges, which already were facing $3 million in cuts this year.

Read more: http://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/education/higher-education/iowa-board-of-regents-universities-facing-an-additional-28-million-in-state-cuts-20170224