2:59 p.m. Petition calls for statewide vote on higher ed plan

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A man who helped create the state’s higher education loan authority filed a petition Friday to allow voters to decide whether to approve a plan to sell part of the authority’s assets to support college scholarships and buildings.

The plan, approved by lawmakers and pushed by Gov. Matt Blunt, would use $350 million from the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority over six years for college scholarships and campus construction projects.

Former MOHELA board member Allan Purdy filed a petition Friday that would leave the final decision of whether that plan should go through to voters. The issue would be on the ballot in November 2008.

The state constitution allows measures already approved by the Legislature to be put on the ballot for approval. Petition gathers would need signatures from at least 5 percent of the voters in six of the state’s nine congressional districts.

Throughout the week, Blunt has traveled the state to ceremonially sign the higher education bill.

A spokeswoman for the governor did not immediately return a call seeking comment Friday.

Blunt first introduced a plan more than a year ago to use proceeds from the sale of some MOHELA assets to pay for buildings focused on life science research. After the Legislature did not approve the plan in 2006 and critics of embryonic stem cell research raised objections, Blunt reshaped it to focus on agricultural projects.

However, the plan still has critics, who say using money from the quasi-governmental loan agency could endanger the availability of future student loans.

Rep. Clint Zweifel, among most vocal critics of the plan throughout the process, told reporters earlier this month that he planned to try to get the legislation authorizing the plan on the ballot. Earlier this week, Zweifel, D-Florissant, backed off that pledge.

Legislation approved by lawmakers made it to the ballot in 1982 when voters defeated a measure that would have allowed heavier and longer trucks on the highways.

As lawmakers considered the plan to sell part of the Chesterfield-based loan authority’s assets, Purdy frequently testified against the idea. He warned Senate and House committees and the current MOHELA board that problems with higher education funding shouldn’t be solved using money from student lenders.

Purdy said that in 1981 he assisted then-Gov. Kit Bond to create MOHELA to make it easier for college students to get loans.