University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler faces an uphill battle at the Capitol if he’s going to persuade state lawmakers to spend more taxpayer money on continuing a 2012 tuition freeze.

Republicans, who now control the House, want to limit spending. They’ve prioritized tax cuts and returning some of the state’s projected surplus to families.

DFLers, who control the Senate, have been cool to the idea since Kaler first proposed it in the fall. They’ve made offering students tuition-free attendance at two-year state schools a top priority.

And Gov. Mark Dayton, a DFLer, has said he wants the university to hold the line on tuition, but he is unsure how to pay for it.

Kaler began making his case for more state aid at a Capitol news conference Tuesday. In front of a banner that read ‘The future is being made in Minnesota,’ Kaler laid out the university’s $1.3 billion two-year budget request.

It includes $127 million in new spending, about half of which, $65 million, would fund a two-year tuition freeze. Over four years, it would save undergraduates about $2,500, graduate students $1,600 and medical students $5,000.

Kaler said the state’s share of the cost of educating a student has shrunk since 1997 from 70 percent to 42 percent.

Kaler said that although Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party legislators’ proposal to offer free tuition at two-year schools was a good one, it won’t create all the additional health care workers and other professionals Minnesota needs. He urged lawmakers to also invest in four-year and more advanced degrees.

“I also think we need higher aspirations than just community college for citizens of Minnesota,” said Kaler, who added that the proposal surprised him. “I think the state should support higher ed more broadly.”

Minnesota Republicans have criticized the free tuition idea for state two-year colleges as too costly.

President Barack Obama has proposed a similar initiative nationwide.

Kaler’s budget includes a new $34.5 million “Healthy Minnesota” initiative aimed at addressing projected health care worker shortages. It would include opening six clinics and expanding medical research.

The initiative will likely find some Republican and DFL support. Both parties want to encourage more doctors, nurses and dentists to work in rural communities and have discussed forgiving their student loans if they do.

The budget proposal also includes $12 million to expand other research, including more environmentally friendly mining.

And Kaler wants lawmakers to include $15 million in the university’s biennial budget for facilities maintenance. Typically, the university must rely on the state bonding bill to fund things such as new roofs and heating and air conditioning and some projects miss out or are delayed.

Kaler noted Tuesday that the university is on track toward its goal of reducing administrative costs by $90 million. Kaler’s budget request is unlikely to get a committee hearing until mid-February after both parties and the governor finalize their budget proposals.

Christopher Magan can be reached at 651-228-5557. Follow him at twitter.com/chris_magan.