Although the state budget has cleared one hurdle, it still has another to go through.

The Kentucky House of Representatives passed a budget with lower cuts to higher education than previous years.

But Sen. Mike Reynolds, D-Bowling Green, said the Senate plans to make its budget proposal different from the House’s proposal.

Once the Senate finishes its budget, the two chambers will compromise to produce a final budget. Legislators have until mid April — when legislative session ends — to pass a final budget.

The House passed its budget proposal for the 2010-2012 biennium on March 10.

It calls for a 1.5 percent cut for higher education in the first year and a 1 percent cut in the second year, said Brian Wilkerson, communications director for House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonburg.

For Western, first year cuts amount to $1.1 million, and in the second year, about half of that money would be restored, said Ann Mead, vice president for Finance and Administration.

Although the second year’s budget would be an increase from the first, it’s still less than Western gets now, Wilkerson said.

But the Senate could change the House proposal, so Mead said it’s still too early to start planning Western’s budget.

President Gary Ransdell said he’s generally pleased with the House budget plan.

Ransdell said he thought House leaders took the concerns he expressed into consideration.

“I feel the House leadership worked hard to lessen the impact to higher education as much as possible,” he said.

Ransdell said he hopes the Senate will do the same. He met with Senate leaders this week to express those wishes.

He said he hopes the Senate will add money for the maintenance and operations of new buildings to their budget, as it wasn’t included in the House budget.

The Council on Postsecondary Education has also been working with lawmakers to keep higher education from facing budget cuts, said John Hayek, vice president for Finance, Planning and Performance for the CPE.

“It’s been a consistent message,” Hayek said. “Our first priority is to maintain the level of base funding.”

He said the CPE understands there’s a need for sacrifices, but higher education has been sacrificing the past few years.

Hayek said the House proposal is attractive for higher education because they plan to give money back the second year.

CPE is hopeful the Senate will be just as receptive to their message, Hayek said.

Reynolds said the Senate has been meeting in committee this week to discuss and rework the budget, and they plan to vote on their proposal on Tuesday.

“We’re going to propose deeper cuts across the board,” he said.

The budget versions proposed by the governor and House counted on the creation of additional revenue, but the Senate doesn’t want that, Reynolds said.

The governor’s money source was expanded gambling, and the House’s was taxes on businesses, he said.

Reynolds said he’s not sure if the Senate will propose higher cuts than the House’s 1.5 percent.

He does know the Senate wants to include maintenance and operating costs for universities in its budget proposal, he said.