“It’s time for a new approach to building better relationships with policymakers. We need legislators from outside regent communities to be on the task force.” --------------------- OWA CITY — With state support for higher education floundering, and more tuition increases looming, several lawmakers say they support and would be involved in a Board of Regents-led task force focused on future tuition-setting practices and rates. During its April meeting last week in Council Bluffs, board members pitched the idea of forming a task force with “a wide representation of regent constituencies” that could meet this summer to have a discussion about tuition at the public universities. Outgoing board President Bruce Rastetter said the collaboration could address state priorities and help students and families plan. “The board has tried very hard in the last five years to get out in front to let legislators and parents know what our tuition increase would be if we get a certain amount of state support,” Rastetter said. “Clearly that went off the rails this year because of the Iowa economy. But there was also a difference in how Iowa funds education and how the regents system has been funded.” Board spokesman Josh Lehman said this week his office is developing a framework for such a group. At the meeting, Rastetter said that Iowa “really needs a holistic approach to whether it can afford all the education that it has — the pre-K-12, the community college system, the Iowa Tuition Grant program, and properly funding the regents.” Propelling the idea was a rough legislative session brought on by lower-than-expected state revenue growth. Lawmakers delivered body blows to the public universities — cutting $20.8 million from their base general education funding for the current year and further reducing base state appropriations in 2018. The cuts prompted regents last week to signal another tuition increase for fall — on top of the already approved 2 percent rise for resident undergraduates. Later this summer, the board cou