There’s no disputing that the University of Hawaii’s flagship campus in Manoa is in dire need of repairs.

Peeling paint, moldy walls and rusting window frames are merely the most obvious signs of 20 years of deferred maintenance that has left the university in a spiraling game of catch-up.

The debate always has been over how to pay for the fixes, which stand at $487 million across the system’s 10 campuses, including $407 million at UH-Manoa.

So it’s encouraging that the UH has proposed a plan for dealing with the backlog once and for all, and equally encouraging that key state lawmakers are willing to hear more about it.

Underlying the proposal is the sense that the toxic atmosphere that persisted between UH and the Legisla- ture during the previous university administration may give way to a more collaborative relationship that better serves both students and state taxpayers.

Interim UH President David Lassner proposes floating $430 million worth of revenue bonds to fund the repair backlog over four years.

The debt service on the bonds would run about $28 million a year, and be repaid from tuition revenue.

The Board of Regents has resisted using tuition money in this manner in the past, partly on the argument that current students should not pay for improvements they’ll not be on campus to enjoy. But all UH students — past, present and future — benefit from maintaining the university at the highest level and enhancing its reputation. The revenue plan should not be disregarded for this reason alone.

More problematic is UH’s request that the Legislature — therefore the taxpayers — kick in about $14 million more for the university’s operating budget, to pay for faculty raises that come due next year as part of a six-year contract.

That would free up more tuition money to pay the debt service on the bonds. Lawmakers have refused since 2010 to fund this pay raise, but perhaps there is room for negotiation now that the request comes as part of a plan for UH to pay for its own deferred maintenance — and from an interim administration intent on fostering better relations with the state government.

UH administrators would do well to lay out exactly how the revenue bonds will be used when they present a more formal proposal to the Board of Regents in October.

Detailed financial and action plans for tackling the deferred maintenance would go a long way in reassuring students, regents, lawmakers and the general public that the money would be well spent.

As state Sen. David Ige, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee put it: "We are open to the possibility of using revenue bonds. Of course, we’ll be looking at the request in terms of what the entire plan is and see how that all fits together."

That Hawaii’s flagship university has been allowed to wallow in a state of such disrepair is a sad commentary on the value we as a community put on higher education.

Given the urgency of the problem, UH’s proposal deserves serious consideration.