Finance council unanimously approves K‑State 'NextGen' extension reorganization plan

Kansas State University presented a multi‑year reorganization of its extension and agricultural research programs, and the State Finance Council voted unanimously to approve the plan.

President Linton and K‑State staff framed the 'K State NextGen' effort as a transformation to place more expertise closer to communities, standardize capacity and deliver measurable outcomes. ‘‘Our focus is simple, greater responsiveness, measurable outcomes, and a stronger return on public investment,’’ Ernie Minton said while introducing the program.

The plan’s timetable begins with statewide needs assessments and organization in the current fiscal year, followed by deployment of regional specialists and accountability measures in fiscal 2027, expansion and districting codified through legislative action by fiscal 2028, and an independent external review of impact and stewardship scheduled for fiscal 2029. Greg Hadley said the system will add 20 non‑tenure regional specialists initially and another 20 later, for a total of 40 additional regional specialists, and pursue districting to group counties into efficient multi‑county units.

K‑State officials described several changes intended to free administrative funds for programming: consolidation of overlapping functions freed “more than 1,000,000 dollars and reoccurring resources” to repurpose into education programming in fiscal 2027; specialists will be expected to generate revenue equal to about 7.5 percent of their salary, producing roughly another $1 million for programming; and the university plans to raise its share of agent salaries from about 35 percent toward a 50 percent goal.

During Q&A, Representative Croft pressed K‑State for concrete metrics to show whether the reorganization actually improves outcomes. K‑State pointed to its PEARS program‑impact reporting system and proposed metric work before the next legislative session. ‘‘The proof is gonna be in the pudding,’’ Speaker Dan Hawkins said, supporting the concept but urging measurable delivery and readiness to justify new approaches to budget committees.

K‑State leaders acknowledged that some elements of the plan—particularly districting—will require legislative action to codify the new structure and that funding approaches remain under discussion. The council approved the resolution on a roll‑call vote after Representative Croft moved and the Speaker seconded.

Next steps described by K‑State are implementation of the initial specialist hires and accountability measures in fiscal 2027 and preparation of a reportable metric set for the legislature in the next session.