Bill ties oil and gas drilling to higher-education funding

   DENVER - Higher education, which has yet to recover from a raid on its funding earlier this decade, may have found a savior in the oil and gas boom.

   Gov. Bill Ritter and a bipartisan group of lawmakers unveiled a bill Thursday that would dedicate federal mineral lease revenues that are expected to skyrocket over the next decade to state universities and towns affected by oil and gas drilling. If passed, it could mean an additional $1 billion for Western Slope and plains towns and as much as $650 million for building needs on college campuses.

   Most importantly, though, it would create a maintenance and reserve fund to hold tens or hundreds of millions of dollars that could be tapped if decreased revenues cut funding for higher education below the previous year's spending levels. Supporters warned this will take five to 10 years to build up and would not increase what spent on education so much as it would stop it from backsliding again.

   State spending on higher education decreased by $85 million in 2003 and the Legislature never replaced the money lost during the recession. Education advocates have sought a way to avoid the same fate in the future. The trust fund and a proposed ballot measure increasing severance taxes drilling companies pay and earmarking the majority of the revenue to colleges could move Colorado up from its current ranking of 49th in state support for higher ed, they said.

   "The governor, I think, is determined to preserve higher-ed funding as a priority, and I think the Legislature is as well," Department of Higher Education Director David Skaggs said.

   Federal mineral lease revenues are paid to the state when companies search for oil and gas on federal lands such as the Roan Plateau. The revenue funds public schools, the Colorado Water Conservation Board, Department of Local Affairs grants and other areas through a complicated formula.

   Under the new plan, $2.7 billion expected to be generated over the next decade by federalland drilling would go to a highereducation capital fund and to the trust fund.

   The capital fund would take care of some of the $3.7 billion in college building projects on a fiveyear priority list - a list that includes $67.3 million worth of work at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs and $30.5 million at Pikes Peak Community College.

   "It's really sexy to build new buildings. People can get excited over that. The hard part is trying to take care of the buildings you already have," PPCC President Tony Kinkel said.

   Backers admitted the infusion of money only keeps colleges treading water. Several, including Ritter, mentioned help could come from a proposed ballot initiative by educational and environmental groups that would bring in $120 million a year for higher education by ending a tax break for oil and gas companies.

   Two Republicans who co-sponsored the measure joined with Democrats in saying the revenue from the energy boom will benefit the state for decades to come under Senate Bill 218.

   "I think this is a historic day that we're going to look back on and say: ‘Boy, this is smart that we did that,'" said Assistant House Minority Leader David Balmer, R-Centennial.

CONTACT THE WRITER: (303) 837-0613 or ed.sealover@gazette.com