With campuses in 54 locations, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities has a presence in the districts of 108 state legislators. By contrast, the University of Minnesota, with two campuses in the Twin Cities and four in Greater Minnesota, is a home-district institution for only a dozen.

Maybe that difference explains the unfortunate imbalance that exists in the higher education funding plan for 2018-19 that leaders of the Legislature's Republican majorities took into negotiations with DFL Gov. Mark Dayton this week. Their bill rejects a decades-old pattern of funding the two systems at nearly the same level, in recognition of their distinct yet comparably vital roles. Instead, the GOP bill attempts to turn the 2015 Legislature's favoritism for Minnesota State into the "new normal."

The Legislature's conference committee recommended $77.7 million more for Minnesota State but just $18.7 million more for the U than it received in 2016-17. Both of those numbers would grow under a proposal legislators delivered to Dayton on Tuesday that added $24 million to the higher ed bill. But that would still be a tightfisted response to the U's request for a $147 million increase over 2016-17 funding. Also troubling is the low bid that the House Republican-designed bonding bill makes for building projects at the university. The system requested $245 million in state general obligation bond proceeds; the House bill would authorize just $30 million.

Those low numbers ought to summon a response from Minnesotans who understand how vital a Minnesota-focused research university is to this state's economy. To be sure, Minnesota also needs the widely accessible and affordable workforce development that Minnesota State provides. And Minnesota State is more dependent on state help than is the more financially complex university.

But only the university conducts high-level research, offers the graduate education that goes with it and applies its discoveries to Minnesota's benefit. The U attracts top talent from around the world, finds cures for diseases and solves the emerging problems associated with a changing climate. It has been an essential breeding ground for Minnesota's 17 Fortune 500 companies, and gives this state its best chance of developing the next generation of leading employers.

It was disheartening during the April 4 House floor debate to hear the university described as flush with funds — and hence undeserving — because it has a $3.3 billion endowment. An endowment of that size ranks Minnesota 29th among the nation's research universities — a middling position with which state leaders should not be content. Further, legislators should know that endowment funds should not — and often cannot — be spent on the institution's core educational mission. That mission is the foundation on which the quest for research funding and the recruitment of top faculty and students rest.

To his credit, Dayton is pushing for a better shake for the university. But the offer he made Monday was rejected by legislators who are keen to pass a $1 billion tax cut this year. Those legislators need to hear from Minnesotans who understand that if a tax cut comes at the expense of this state's best economic engine, it's something Minnesota cannot afford.