Beshear's budget bludgeons education in NKY

Rep. Dennis Keene, D-Wilder, says he is planning a bill to freeze state tuition at public universities and community colleges for two years.

His heart might be in the right place -- tuition increases seem out of control around the country -- but it smacks of a political grandstand play. By that, I mean this is one of those measures that will sound superficially good to many voters, fail to recognize the complexities of an issue and stand little chance of passage.

A mandated tuition freeze on top of a cut in the state allocation of about 12 percent would be awful for Northern Kentucky University and perhaps even more devastating to Gateway Community and Technical College. It would be a setback not just to those institutions, but also to the region's economic progress and its ability to consistently be an economic engine for the whole state.

Keene needs to stand up to the governor of his own political party and find out why Gov. Steve Beshear's budget is so unfair to Northern Kentucky. To keep local tuition down, he could help NKU get funded at a level comparable to, say, Western Kentucky, which receives about $5,500 per full-time student vs $4,800 per student at Northern.

Beshear's budget seems to snub the region in other ways, too.

For example, Gateway President Ed Hughes says he will be in the absurd situation of having newly constructed buildings that he won't have funds to operate, including a centerpiece of regional economic development -- the center for advanced manufacturing at Gateway's Boone campus.

And, for some strange reason, the governor found money in a tight budget to fund seven higher education projects that weren't even on the priority list of the state's Council on Postsecondary Education. None of those projects are in Northern Kentucky. Fast-growing NKU had two highly ranked projects -- renovation of its science building and constructing a health innovation center -- that won't see a nickle in 2008-10 while lower-ranked projects are getting funds.

The budgetary bludgeoning isn't limited to higher education. Because of the inequities in the state's formula for funding public schools, Northern Kentucky will continue to have seven of the 13 least-funded districts in the state based on per-pupil spending: Boone, Beechwood, Fort Thomas, Kenton, Campbell, Southgate and Erlanger-Elsmere. And other state educational funds, such as textbooks, would be slashed. I saw a spreadsheet that showed Boone County alone would have $356,000 less to spend on textbooks next year.

Beshear says everyone has to bite the bullet. Fair enough, but why should Northern Kentucky take the biggest bite? It will take a united front from Northern Kentucky's legislative delegation to limit the damage.