BREAKING NEWS – Legislative Budget Committee sets 90-minute Sternberg discussion; staff seek detailed spending records

Posted October 22, 2026

According to the tentative agenda for the Oct. 26 Legislative Budget Committee, 90 minutes, beginning at 1 p.m., has been allotted to discuss the Sternberg Museum of Natural History, with testimony by Fort Hays State University (FHSU) President Tisa Mason. The meeting will take place in Room 548-S at the Capitol and will be livestreamed on the KS Legislature YouTube Channel.

Documents provided by the Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR) in response to a Hays Daily News Kansas Open Records Act (KORA) request show legislative staff began seeking detailed Sternberg Museum financial data on Oct. 12, 2026—two weeks before the Oct. 26 committee meeting expected to examine the museum’s finances.

In an Oct. 12 email, Kansas Legislative Research Department Senior Fiscal Analyst Luke Drury told KBOR officials he could not find Sternberg’s actual or estimated expenditures in state budget narratives or KanView. Drury said the numbers and details appeared to be “escaping everyone” and that some people were having difficulty getting calls, emails and correspondence returned.

KBOR Vice President for Finance and Administration Elaine Frisbie forwarded the request to FHSU officials, saying the level of detail sought likely would have to come from the university’s enterprise accounting system.

The records provided by KBOR also include FHSU President Tisa Mason’s September report, which she emailed Oct. 5. Mason wrote that she had authorized the FHSU Foundation to pursue $1 million to bridge Sternberg’s fiscal year 2027 budget gap. If commitments materialized, she said, the museum’s operations could remain in place while teams redesigned its operating systems and financial structure.

The legislative inquiry underscores the difficulty of evaluating Mason’s explanation for announcing the end of Sternberg’s public operations effective Dec. 18.

FHSU financial summaries for fiscal years 2017 through 2026, provided by FHSU in response to a Hays Daily News KORA request, reportedly combine museum revenue, payroll and other operating expenses, but the available material does not establish precisely what each revenue entry represents or identify every underlying transaction.

An outside budget source reviewing the summaries estimated FHSU subsidized Sternberg by about $835,000 annually. Mason has described the support as roughly $855,000 or about half the museum’s budget. Without transaction-level data, however, the portion covered by admissions and other earned income—and the portion ultimately borne by university funds, grants, gifts or other sources—cannot be independently verified.

That complexity matters because university museums rarely operate on earned income alone. Their financial models generally combine admissions, memberships and retail receipts with parent-institution support, fundraising, grants and endowment proceeds. Sternberg staff say its receipts and expenditures move through FHSU’s Business Office and Workday system, making the underlying university records central to understanding the museum’s finances.

Mason has said FHSU supported Sternberg for years but could no longer carry the subsidy after state funding reductions. During an Oct. 6 presentation to Ellis County commissioners, she said the university faces a recurring \$2.4 million reduction to its base operating budget in fiscal year 2027 and is prioritizing academic services while reducing outward-facing community programs.

Mason also argued that FHSU operates with fewer resources than other Kansas Board of Regents universities. She said its general-use expenditures per credit hour are below those of its peers and that the cuts did not account for the university’s relative efficiency.

However, the emerging record raises questions about when Sternberg’s longstanding funding arrangement became unsustainable—and why.

In her September report, Mason characterized the closure announcement as part of FHSU’s strategic budget realignment. She also said community support had prompted the $1 million campaign that could preserve operations temporarily.

Unresolved questions include when the closure decision was made; what alternatives were analyzed; when outside advisers became involved; why fundraising began near the closure announcement; and what level of continuing financial responsibility FHSU accepts as Sternberg’s owner and parent institution.

The Oct. 12 request does not allege mismanagement or wrongdoing. It does show that legislative staff want more than a summary-level subsidy figure as the committee prepares for Oct. 26 and evaluates FHSU’s closure decision, fundraising effort and plans for Sternberg’s future.

Visit https://www.kslegislature.gov/b2025_26/committees/ctte_leg_budget_1/ for the full agenda of the Oct. 26 Legislative Budget Committee meeting.

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