Student lobbyists hold out hope for higher ed funding

HELENA — WhileMichael Dills and Blake Robertson may not have the pull of professional influence peddlers, the two student lobbyists from Montana State University said they have reason to hope the Senate will restore some of the $32 million cut from higher education budgets by the House.

As the budget heads into the Senate Finance and Claims Committee, the two said three Republican senators — Alan Olson, R-Roundup, Taylor Brown, R-Huntley, and Ryan Zinke, R-Whitefish — have promised to help restore at least some of the money.

Those three votes, plus those of the committee's Democratic members, could forme a 10-8 majority in favor of returning some money to higher ed.

Robertson and Dills' strategy for persuading the rest of the GOP senators is simple: to educate legislators on the effects of cutting campus budgets.

"What we need to do is have every single Republican senator who might be inclined to vote the same as the House Republicans did aware of what this actually will do," Robertson said.

Dills said they are also hoping better revenue estimates will come from the House soon to help their cause.

"A lot of it is contingent on what happens on Thursday with (the revenue estimate)," Dills said. "The sentiment that we've been hearing all along is it's not that they dislike our programs necessarily, but more that the money isn't there."

All attempts to restore funding before the budget left the House failed, but the two said they aren't taking the initial loss hard.

"We were expected everything to get brought up and knocked down on the floor (Monday)," Robertson said. "It would have been nice to see closer votes, but it's no surprise to see most of it come down on almost exactly party line."

One amendment would have returned about half the cut, but was twice offered and twice rejected. Robertson said the $15 million would have at least offset the cost of higher enrollment rates and maintained class sizes and access for students.

Without it, he said, education will suffer as professors and resources are spread thin.

For now, though, the two said they will be keeping an eye on the revenue estimate and holding class in the halls of the Capitol.

(Reporter Cody Bloomsburg can be reached at 208-816-0809 or by e-mail at [email protected].)