House and Senate budget writers have reached a deal that would restore about $36 million to higher education if another bill putting limits on diversity, equity or inclusion at state universities and community colleges is enacted into law.
The budget conference committee agreement is centered on a bill barring universities, community colleges and technical colleges from requiring statements about diversity, equity or inclusion as a condition of admission, financial aid or hiring.
If the bill is enacted, the money would be restored. If the bill is not enacted, the money would be withheld unless certain circumstances are met.
Republican state Sen. J.R. Claeys, vice chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said a state law would better address the issue than punishing state universities by denying them funding.
“We can use the power of our ability to appropriate to get agencies to react the way we like them to and the way that our constituents want them to,” Claeys said.
“But it makes more sense to have something in law that’s going to be longer lasting than one budget year,” he said.
“This is an appropriate way to deal with it. It does have some level of penalty that is monetary if there are some violations.”
Democratic state Rep. Brandon Woodard, a member of the Higher Education Budget Committee, opposed the DEI bill that has been passed by the House.
Woodard said the House approach is preferable to addressing the issue than the Senate’s approach by denying funding.
“We’re already underfunding our universities. We shouldn’t add financial penalties on top of that,” Woodard said.
The House voted 81-39 to approve the legislation that was advocated by Republican state Rep. Steven Howe of Salina, who said the measure was needed to protect free speech rights and academic freedom on college campuses.
Democrats had questioned the value of the bill, saying the attrbutes of diversity, equity and inclusion are generally good traits in people.
They questioned why the state wouldn’t want anyone working at a state university who isn’t inclusive or equitable.
The Senate had been on a separate track that was more focused on using the budget as a stick to prevent the use of DEI on college campuses.
The Senate approved a proviso to the budget that moved $35.7 million from state universities to the State Finance Council.
The council, under the proviso, would hold the money unless the schools could show they haven’t participated in DEI practices related to hiring, admissions and tenure decisions.
The amount would be equal to 5% of the money appropriated for salaries, contractual services and commodities at each of the state regents’ institutions.
The affected schools would include the state’s universities as well as the University of Kansas Medical Center, the Kansas State extension systems and the Kansas State University Veterinary Medical Center.
School officials would have to appear before the State Finance Council – made up of the governor and top Republican and Democratic legislative leaders – to certify that DEI is not used in hiring, admissions, tenure reviews and promotion decisions, among other things.
The State Finance Council could then release the money to the state universities once they demonstrate they’re not asking for statements about DEI in making decisions about hiring, admission and tenure.
Late Wednesday afternoon, a House-Senate conference committee passed out the DEI bill, which must still get final approval by the House and Senate.
The bill bans schools from requiring pledges or statements regarding “diversity, equity, inclusion” as a basis for denying admission, financial aid, promoting a faculty member or hiring a job applicant.
The bill doesn’t ban universities from spending money on DEI programs, and it’s limited to using DEI in employment, admissions and financial aid decisions.
The legislation, as it passed out of committee, reduced the fines for potential violations to $10,000 for each violation from $100,000 per violation.
It also removed a section that would have allowed anyone whose rights were violated to sue a school.
The bill now allows someone who believes their rights were violated to file a complaint with the Board of Regents to investigate.
If the board’s investigation doesn’t turn up a violation, a complaint could be filed with the attorney general, who would investigate.
If the attorney general finds a violation, that institution would have 90 days to remedy the violation.
If the violation is not corrected, the attorney general could take the school to court. A $10,000 fine for each violation could be levied if the court finds a violation.
“It sounds like our friends at the Board of Regents and Regents institutions have heard the message loud and clear that we’re not going to accept race-based admissions, race-based hiring, race-based practices in their institutions going forward,” Claeys said.
“We’re very much more interested in judging people on their content of their character than color of their skin.”
