Stay Connected to the Legislative Process
Read regular updates from Evergreen’s Office of Governmental Relations.
On Wednesday April 7, the Washington Senate passed a proposed biennial operating budget and on April 8 released a proposed biennial capital budget The Senate’s capital budget provides funding for several projects across higher education, authorizing $923.7 million ($558.7 million state bonds) in higher education facilities in the next biennium.
On Friday, March 27, the Washington State House of Representatives released proposed 2015-2017 biennial operating and capital budgets, which include funding for higher education. This follows the release of Governor Jay Inslee’s proposed 2015-17 Operating and Capital budgets on December 18, 2014.
Check out the Senate and House Budget and Funding Proposals
Evergreen Operating Budget Request
Impact on Higher Education and The Evergreen State College
The proposed Senate Capital Budget provides funding for several projects across higher education. This includes funding for three projects at Evergreen – Lecture Hall Renovation Construction, Lab I Basement Construction funding, and Seminar I Renovation Predesign. The budget also provides authorization to purchase the Tacoma Campus property.
In addition the budget includes funds to support facilities preservation, minor works, and preventative facility maintenance and building system repairs.
Overall the budget supports Evergreen’s focus and commitment to responsible stewardship of our public facilities and infrastructure to meet current technological needs and demands, and to provide the needed facilities and infrastructure to provide a quality educational experience for students.
The proposed Capital Budget from the Washington House includes funding for three projects at Evergreen: Lecture Hall Renovation Construction, Lab I Basement Construction, and Seminar I Renovation pre-design. The budget also provides authorization to purchase the Evergreen Tacoma Campus property. In addition, the budget includes funds to support facilities preservation, minor works, preventative facility maintenance and building system repairs.
The proposed Operating Budget from the Washington House provides $257 million for financial aid, a tuition freeze $253 million for state and higher education employee compensation and benefits, an increase in funding for the State Need Grant by $53 million and $60 million to provide the state’s match for the Washington Opportunity Scholarship Program. For Evergreen, the proposed Operating Budget freezes tuition for undergraduate, resident students for the biennium, while providing $2.954 million to offset the tuition freeze. The budget also provides Evergreen $750,000 in the second year of the biennium to expand student advising and support services that lead to increased degree completion. The proposed budget does not provide funds to eliminate the student backlog in computer science at Evergreen, which is currently at 50-75 students.
Greeners joined forces with alumni from Washington’s four-year baccalaureates to speak to legislators about investment in higher education. Photo – Julie Garver, 2/18/15
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