Monthly Archives: January 2014

House Higher Education Hears from Institutions on Incentive Funding

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This afternoon Evergreen presented before the House Higher Education Committee. In a focused presentation before the Committee, John Carmichael, Deputy to the President and member of the Technical Incentive Funding Model Task Force and Laura Coghlan, Director of Institutional Research and Assessment addressed the question posed by the Committee –  How will each institution respond to the goals identified in the public baccalaureate incentive funding model proposal?

In December the Office of Financial Management released a report from the Technical Incentive Funding  Model Task Force. The Task Force was established in the 2013-15 biennial budget to propose an incentive funding model for the four-year institutions of higher education.

The Task Force identified three statewide goals for the public baccalaureate institutions in the report: (1) Increase overall degree production, (2) Increase degree production in STEM/high demand areas, and (3) Increase degree production for students from underrepresented groups.

In the presentation Evergreen spoke to how the College and its mission would strive to play a role in moving the public baccalaureate sector forward within the context of these three goals.  Evergreen highlighted the College’s strengths recognizing that the institution make a strong contribution to the state in the areas of efficient degree production, STEM/High Demand degrees, and degree attainment for underrepresented students.

Within this context, Evergreen recognizes that the College could make additional contributions to the statewide goals identified in the report with additional resources.

In particular, Evergreen identified improvement in the areas of general degree production through investments in retention initiatives; STEM/High Demand degree production through investments in faculty and financial aid; and attainment of underrepresented students through investments in targeted outreach and support for underrepresented minority, non-traditional age, and veterans.

Evergreen was joined by colleagues from the other public baccalaureate institutions. On Thursday Evergreen will present on the institution’s response to the Task Force model before the Senate Higher Education Committee.

Morning on The Hill Busy for Higher Education

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This morning higher education was busy on The Hill with a hearing in House Capital Budget and a work session before the House Higher Education Committee.

House Capital Budget

This morning began early with the House Capital Budget scheduled for a public hearing on Governor Inslee’s proposed 2014 supplemental capital budget.

Evergreen, along with other higher education stakeholders, testified to the impact of the supplemental budget on institutions and students.

Evergreen thanked the Legislature for providing the College with the authority to enter into a certificate of participation, through the Office of the State Treasurer, to purchase the building the College currently leases for Evergreen’s Tacoma program. Evergreen noted that the certificate of participation would allow the College to establish a permanent site for the program, which has been in existence for over 30 years, by redirecting the current lease rate toward the purchase of a permanent location for the program. The impact of this action would be to create equity in an owned existing building and provide Evergreen and its students with certainty with regard to the future of the program, benefiting not only the College but the State.

Evergreen also asked the Committee to work with the College to provide funds to meet a gap in resources to implement a microturbine project on campus. The project which is supported by the Washington Department of Commerce, Evergreen students, and Puget Sound Energy would replace existing failing infrastructure, deploy state of the art technology, generate energy savings, reduce the college’s carbon footprint and provide a great return on investment. The College is asking for $499,000

In mid-December Governor Inslee released his proposed 2014 Supplemental Capital budget.

The Governor provided funding for a small number of projects across higher education. This includes authority for Evergreen to enter into a certificate of participation to purchase the existing facility in Tacoma for the College’s Tacoma program; $2 million to remove, clean and dispose of two underground diesel oil tanks at Central Washington University; and $5 to renovate the Carver Academic Center at Western Washington University.

House Higher Education

The Council of Presidents along with representatives from the Office of Financial Management and the Education Research Data Center presented as a panel on the public, baccalaureate incentive funding model task force.

The panel provided an overview of the proviso language that established the task force in the biennial budget, the data used as the source for the metrics included in the report, and the task force’s  eight recommendations if incentive funding (i.e. performance funding) were established in Washington for the public baccalaureate institutions.

The eight recommendations include:

  • Support “Washington-specific” statewide achievement goals based on college access and completion, which represent the state’s greatest need.
  • Identify institution-specific metrics based on institutional mission.
  • Provide new, up-front state performance funding investment in conjunction with the state budget processes.
  • Establish a simple, on-going system for monitoring and funding institution-specific metrics that aligns with the biennial budgeting process.
  • Start the timeline for performance funding now and renew on a biennial basis going forward.
  • Pursue baseline funding objectives through adequate maintenance level funding, institution-level policy investments, and performance incentive funding.
  • Use increased state funding over time to pursue a 50/50 balance between tuition and state support.
  • Repeal and replace other statutory statewide performance goals and processes.

The institutions will present on institutional metrics before the House Higher Education Committee tomorrow and in the Senate on Thursday.

 

Evergreen Presents on Service to Veterans

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Serving veterans is a critical component of Evergreen’s outreach. This was the central message relayed by Randy Kelley, Director of the Veterans Resource Center before the Senate Higher Education Committee.

Kelley presented as part of panel focused on the work in Washington to ease the transition from military service to higher education. Kelley joined colleagues from the University of Washington and the State Board of Community and Technical Colleges to share the work at Washington’s public higher education institutions.

Senate Committee Holds Public Hearing on Supplemental Budget

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This afternoon the Senate Ways & Means Committee held a public hearing on Governor Inslee’s proposed 2014 supplemental budget.

Evergreen, along with other higher education stakeholders, testified to the impact of the supplemental budget on institutions and students.

Evergreen thanked the Legislature for the investment in higher education in the biennial budget and shared with the Committee Evergreen’s commitment to not increase tuition in either academic year of the biennium.  In addition, the College shared its support for the investment in the College Bound program and expressed concern that no investment was made to serve the 32,400 unserved, eligible students in the State Need Grant program.

In mid-December Governor Inslee released his proposed 2014 Supplemental Operating budget.

With regard to higher education, the supplemental budget proposed by Governor Inslee supports the investment made in higher education in the 2013-15 biennial budget and provides a good starting point for budget discussions for the 2015-17 biennium.

The budget makes a handful of investments in higher education including STEM programs for underrepresented students at the community and technical colleges ($410,000) and funds to meet the obligations for the College Bound Scholarship program ($7.2 million).  In addition the budget includes funds focused on advanced manufacturing programs and research at the University of Washington and Washington State University ($1 million).

The budget also maintains the ability for public baccalaureate institutions to raise tuition beyond appropriated tuition levels for the 2014-15 academic year. The budget includes clarifying language that underscores the requirement that institutions that raise tuition beyond appropriated levels must mitigate the impact to students with additional financial aid.

Evergreen Presents Before House Higher Education on Expansion and Retention

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This afternoon Evergreen presented before the House Higher Education. In a focused presentation before the Committee, Provost Michael Zimmerman and Vice President Wendy Endress addressed the question posed by the Committee –  How will the College address the goals identified by the Washington Student Achievement Council in the Ten-Year Roadmap?

In December WASAC released a ten-year strategic plan for investing in and promoting access to higher education. The plan established two educational attainment goals for 2023.

  • All adults in Washington will have a high school diploma or equivalent.
  • At least 70 percent of Washington adults will have a postsecondary credential.

In the presentation Evergreen spoke to the College’s work to reach out to targeted populations to expand higher education enrollments and success. In particular Evergreen recognized the College’s work focused on expanding access to higher education to working adults and veterans, college-pipeline programs, and incarcerated youth.

In addition Evergreen highlighted specific retention initiatives that the College has implemented and show promising results, but will require additional state investment. Among the initiatives highlighted in the presentation included expansion of student orientation programming, reduced class size, the academic statement, and the Summer Undergraduate Research Program.

Evergreen was joined by colleagues from the other public baccalaureate institutions. On Friday, the Committee will hear from the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges and the independent colleges of Washington.

Governor Addresses State in First State of the State

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Today Governor Inslee addressed a joint session of the Legislature and Washingtonians in his first State of the State Address.

The Governor focused on a call to action to invest in education, finish work on a transportation package, and increase the minimum wage.

Inslee, on the heels of the Supreme Court order that the State did not meet the constitutional obligation in the biennial budget to adequately fund education, stated that he will release a proposal this week to make an additional investment of at least $200 million in K-12 funding, including school operations and voter-approved teacher COLAs. The Governor indicated his proposal would be offset by closing tax breaks.

In addition the Governor continued his push for a transportation package and committed to working with legislators, business, and stakeholders to increase the minimum wage.

Finally the Governor signaled forthcoming proposals to provide B&O tax relief to small businesses; health care initiatives focused on children’s health, the quality and cost of health care services, and improving mental health services; and continue efforts around climate change.

House Appropriations Holds Hearing on Supplemental Operating Budget

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The first afternoon of the 2014 session the House Appropriations Committee held a public hearing on Governor Inslee’s proposed 2014 supplemental budget.

Evergreen, along with other higher education stakeholders, testified to the impact of the supplemental budget on institutions and students.

Evergreen thanked the Legislature for the investment in higher education in the biennial budget and shared with the Committee Evergreen’s commitment to not increase tuition in either academic year of the biennium.  In addition, the College shared its support for the investment in the College Bound program and expressed concern that no investment was made to serve the 32,400 unserved, eligible students in the State Need Grant program.

In mid-December Governor Inslee released his proposed 2014 Supplemental Operating budget.

Inslee’s proposal would boost the state’s $33.6 billion dollar budget by approximately $200 million. The majority of the increase goes to “mandatory costs” including increased enrollments in public schools and more inmates in prison. Approximately a quarter of the increase ($55 million) is focused on new programs including $3 million for teacher mentoring, $7 million to deal with prison capacity, and $13 million for technology upgrades.

With regard to higher education, the supplemental budget proposed by Governor Inslee supports the investment made in higher education in the 2013-15 biennial budget and provides a good starting point for budget discussions for the 2015-17 biennium.

The budget makes a handful of investments in higher education including STEM programs for underrepresented students at the community and technical colleges ($410,000) and funds to meet the obligations for the College Bound Scholarship program ($7.2 million).  In addition the budget includes funds focused on advanced manufacturing programs and research at the University of Washington and Washington State University ($1 million).

The budget also maintains the ability for public baccalaureate institutions to raise tuition beyond appropriated tuition levels for the 2014-15 academic year. The budget includes clarifying language that underscores the requirement that institutions that raise tuition beyond appropriated levels must mitigate the impact to students with additional financial aid.

The Senate Ways & Means Committee will hold a public hearing on the Governor’s proposed supplemental budget on Wednesday.

Washington House Passes DREAM Act

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The Washington House of Representatives took action on the first piece of legislation yesterday. The House reintroduced the DREAM Act (HB 1817) and passed it off the House floor with a strong bipartisan vote (71-23).

The DREAM Act would allow the children of undocumented immigrants to be eligible to apply for college financial aid from the state.

The DREAM Act now goes to the Senate for consideration.

2014 Legislative Session Kicks-Off

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This week kicks-off the 2014 supplemental legislative session. The last few weeks suggest that this session will focus on technical changes to the biennial operating and capital budgets with a goal to leave Olympia on-time in mid-March.

The session begins with a bang as the House Appropriations Committee holds a public hearing on the Governor’s proposed supplemental budget Monday afternoon. The Senate Ways & Means Committee follows with the same agenda on Wednesday.

Both the Senate and House Higher Education Committees have a full agenda. In the House the week is focused on presentations by the Washington Student Achievement Council, the State Board of Community and Technical Colleges, and the public and private baccalaureate institutions regarding their plans for expansion to meet the statewide, ten-year goals identified in the Council’s Roadmap.

In the Senate, the Committee will hold a work session focused on an overview of  state funding for higher education and financial aid programs. Later in the week the Committee will hear from institutions and agencies regarding the challenges and barriers for veterans transitioning from service to higher education and the role of prior learning in postsecondary education.