Tag Archives: Budget

Washington Legislature Kicks Off November Assembly Days

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This Thursday and Friday the Washington Legislature meets for Assembly Days to focus on the issues they will face in January during the 2014 supplemental session.

Several work sessions will be held that center around the 2014 supplemental operating and capital budgets as well as the impacts of legislation passed during the 2013 regular session.

Higher education kicked off the week early with the convening of the Joint Higher Education Committee yesterday. Committee members engaged with members of the Washington Student Achievement Council on the launch of the Councils’ Ten-Year Roadmap.

On Thursday the Senate Higher Education Committee and the House Subcommittee on Education Appropriations will meet. The Senate Higher Education Committee will hold a work session on meeting Washington’s workforce demands with a focus on the workforce skills gap, higher education efforts to meet employer needs, and using data to measure success in meeting workforce demand. The House will focus on the Guaranteed Education Tuitin (GET) program and an update on the College Bound Scholarship program.

In the afternoon the Senate Ways & Means Committee will receive an update on the 2014 supplemental capital and operating budgets, most recent revenue forecast and collective bargaining agreements. In addition members will hear from the Council of Presidents regarding the Higher Education Performance Funding Task Force.

The House Appropriations Committee will also convene to receive updates regarding Lean management savings, the higher education budget, and the Affordable Care Act.

On Friday the House Higher Education Committee will meet to learn more about the 2014 legislative agendas for the Washington Student Achievement Council, the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, and the Council of Presidents.

Revenue Forecast Released in the Black with Little Wiggle Room

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This morning the Washington Economic & Revenue Forecast Council approved a November forecast that increased slightly by $368 million for 2013-15. The increase is the result of a slow-recovering economy and tax changes approved by the Legislature.

Overall the increase gives the state about $862.7 million in total general-fund reserves for the current budget. Though good news given the deep declines in revenue over the past few years, the positive forecast does not change course, in many policymaker’s minds,  for the upcoming supplemental session. In other words a session geared towards technical changes and not new major investments.

This cautious approach may well be supported given pending litigation on state employee pensions that in the worst case could hit the state with a$1.3 billion price tag.

Washington House Republicans Name New Ranking Member on Appropriations

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The Washington House Republicans named Representative Bruce Chandler as the next person to lead the caucus in budget discussions. Chandler replaces Representative Gary Alexander who served as the ranking member on the House Appropriations Committee for eight years.

Chandler is a 13-year veteran of the Legislature who has served on the House Appropriations Committee seven years. He represents the 15th Legislative District which includes eastern Yakima County.

Alexander announced earlier this year that he will resign from is House seat later this year. He is currently running for the position of Thurston County auditor.

The Impact to Higher Education if the Government Shuts Down

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Those in the other Washington and higher education experts believe that if the federal government shuts down the impact to higher education will be modest.  That is in the short-term.

The federal government may shutdown on October 1 if Congress does not agree to a stopgap spending measure to keep the government going. It is unclear on October 1 what federal programs related to higher education would be impacted. Last week the White House directed federal agencies including the U.S. Department of Education to update their plans for operation during a government shutdown. The documents have yet to be released.

Looking back at the last close call in 2011, the Education Department estimated that it would furlough almost all of its staff and would rely on a limited number of people on a limited basis if the shutdown was prolonged longer than a week. At this time the Department said that the administration of federal student aid programs would largely be unaffected at least for the first week. A shutdown beyond a week would have a more severe impact on financial aid.

Beyond the potential shutdown next week, higher education is looking ahead to the multiple federal fiscal fights likely this fall. Even if the shutdown does not occur Congress is expected to pass a stopgap measure. This will be a temporary fix and will leave in place the sequester cuts to campus-based financial aid programs and scientific research.  Making the problem further complex are the looming negotiations over the debt ceiling – October 17. If the federal government were to run out of money higher education is concerned about the impact on federal student aid and research funding.

Obama Administration Lays Out Aggressive Postsecondary Education Agenda

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In mid-August President Obama began a short bus tour beginning in New York to talk about college affordability and his plans for addressing access and affordability across the country.

The plan would highlight policy changes in three major areas:

  • Pay for Performance by tying financial aid to college performance, starting with publishing new college ratings before the 2015 year; challenging states to fund public colleges based on performance; and holding students and institutions receiving student aid responsible for making progress toward a degree.
  • Promoting Innovation and Competition to challenge colleges to offer students a greater range of affordable, high-quality options than they do today; give consumers clear, transparent information on college performance to help them make the decisions that work best for them; and encourage innovation by stripping away unnecessary regulations.
  • Ensuring that Student Debt Remains Affordable to help ensure borrowers can afford their federal student loan debt by allowing all borrowers to cap their payments at 10 percent of their monthly income; and reach out to struggling borrowers to ensure they are aware of the flexible options available to help them to repay their debt.

The first major step in implementing this plan will be issuance of new college ratings by 2015. The U.S. Department of Education will develop a new ratings system, to be displayed on institution’s federal scorecards, to help students compare the value offered by colleges and encourage colleges to improve. The ratings will be developed through public hearings around the country to gather input and will be based on such measures as:

  • Access, such as percentage of students receiving Pell Grants;
  • Affordability, such as average tuition, scholarships, and loan debt; and
  • Outcomes, such as graduation and transfer rates, graduate earnings, and advanced degrees of college graduates.

Between 2014 and 2018 the Department will refine these measures and seek legislation using this new rating system to transform the way federal aid is awarded to institutions once the ratings are developed. The goal will be to tie federal student aid funding to institutions to the rankings by 2018.

In addition the plan identifies a number of other policy proposals to work towards greater access and affordability for students. Among these proposals is a Race to the Top for Higher Education to spur state higher education reforms and reshape the federal-state partnership by ensuring that states maintain funding for public higher education. The promotion of innovation and competition by awarding credits based on learning and not seat time, using technology to redesign courses and for student services, and recognize prior learning and promote dual enrollment. Finally efforts will include proposals to ensure student debt is affordable by making borrowers eligible for the Pay as You Earn program.

Legislatively Passed Operating Budget Makes Great Reinvestment in Higher Education

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This evening after a week of long days and nights on the floor and two legislative sessions the Washington Legislature sent to the Governor an operating budget that makes a substantial reinvestment in higher education.

Last session the Washington Legislature held the line on funding for higher education. This session the Legislature set a new path forward for higher education making a substantial reinvestment in access to an affordable quality education for students. The budget put forth by the Legislature reverses the trend of deep reductions all to familiar in higher education since the beginning of the Great Recession and makes a commitment to invest in higher education and to ease the financial burden for Washingtonians and their families.

The budget invests nearly $3 billion in Evergreen above a fully funded maintenance level budget. This represents an increase of 5.6% above 2011-13 levels and represents roughly half of the total request the Evergreen Board of Trustees put forth this past fall.

The reinvestment of state dollars will allow Evergreen to move forward in several critical areas including student success programming, basic technology and infrastructure needs, and staff and faculty recruitment and retention efforts.

Perhaps most critical in this budget is the commitment the Legislature makes to students by holding tuition at current levels for the next two years in the budget and making a substantial investment with state funds to preserve quality.

Final Budget Deal Reached and Delivered to Governor

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Late Thursday night the Washington Legislature released details on a final budget compromise for the 2013-15 biennium. And by late this evening the Washington Legislature forwarded the final budget to Governor Inslee’s desk for signature.

Overall the proposed budget makes several policy enhancements, primarily in education.  These include: (1) over $1 billion in K-12 education increases for basic education; (2) over $180 million in policy level enhancements in state funding for higher education; and (3) $25 million for expanded preschool through the Department of Early Learning.

In addition the budget leaves approximately $630 million in reserves.

These enhancements as well as the other parts of the budget are funded through a combination of savings, transfers, and the redirection of funds.

  • $1.6 billion in spending controls and savings: (1) $320 million by re-purposing Initiative 732, (2) $351 million through federal Medicaid expansion, (3) $272 million by temporarily extending the hospital safety net, (4) $40 million in LEAN, information technology and centralized service efficiencies, (5) $34 million in savings by aligning health benefit eligibility for state, higher education and K-12 employees with the federal Affordable Care Act, (6) $20 million in changes to the Housing & Essential Needs (HEN) program and support for the Aged, Blind and Disabled (ABD), (7) $162 million in caseload and policy changes affect TANF and Working Connections Child Care, (8) $31 million by delaying nursing home re-basing, and (9) $300 million in savings in all areas of government
  • $500 million in transfers: The largest fund transfers include $34 million from the Life Science Discovery Fund, $22 million from the State Treasurer’s Service,  $277 million from the Public Works Assistance Account, and $387 million in redirection of capital budget and other revenue funds

Finally the budget assumes $267 million in other resources. This increase includes a combination of $11 million in legislation reducing revenue and $279 million in legislation/budget actions increasing revenue. The source of the increased revenue is: (1) $159 million from enactment of the estate taxes, (2) $110 million from telecommunications services reform, and (3) $9.5 million from enhanced liquor revenue collected by the Department of Revenue.

Higher Education

The legislatively passed operating budget makes the strongest investment in higher education in years. The proposed budget assumes no increases in resident undergraduate tuition rates for the 2013-15 biennium. For 2013-14 the public, four-year institutions are prohibited from using tuition-setting authority to exceed the appropriated tuition level.

The total budget provides $3.1 billion in state funds to support higher education. The budget provides $119.3 million in funding to support the core academic functions of the institutions of higher education. Finally the budget makes an investment in financial aid including the College Bound Scholarship program and the State Need Grant.

In addition $17.6 million is provided to the University of Washington (UW), Washington State University (WSU) and Western Washington University to expand enrollments in computer science and engineering. Additional dollars are provided to WSU to expand their medical programs in Spokane and to establish the Clean Energy Institute and the Center on Ocean Acidification at the UW.

Evergreen

For Evergreen the budget passed by the Legislature would require that tuition remain at zero for the 2013-15 biennium for undergraduate resident students. The College is prohibited from increasing tuition in 2013-14 but may increase tuition beyond this level with a prescribed investment in institutional financial aid in the following year.

In addition the budget invests $2.899 million above maintenance level funding  for Evergreen. This represents a 5.6% increase from 2011-13 levels and provides funds for Evergreen to maintain affordable tuition, invest in student success programming, and support needs in basic technology infrastructure.

Finally, the Washington State Institute for Public Policy, a public service center of Evergreen, is funded to support seven study/research projects for the Legislature.

Next Steps

The Governor is expected to sign into law the operating budget on Sunday. It is reported that no further action will be taken to try to move forward a transportation revenue. Finally, it is expected that a biennial capital budget will be released later this evening or tomorrow with hopes that the final capital budget will be sent to the Governor for his signature on Sunday.

There is a Budget Deal

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This morning both chambers confirmed that a final budget deal has been reached for the 2013-15 biennium.  Members will be briefed on the proposal this afternoon. There is hope that the final budget may reach Governor Inslee’s desk by tomorrow night.

While we await details on the $33.6 billion budget, reports state that the budget includes an additional $1 billion into public schools; a prohibition on higher-education tuition increases for one year, with some flexibility in the second year; and an agreement to end a tax break for residential phone service that’s projected to net about $85 million over the next two years.

Though the general outlook is this will move forward, there is a cautious tone because disagreements between the two chambers remain. The disagreements, however, are primarily focused on separate pieces of legislation and not part of the budget. Among the topics still left undetermined include budget language to conduct a study on fish consumption and recovery plans for the protected Eastern Washington wolf population.

The budget deal comes after a week of negotiations and actions on the floor. Earlier this week both the House and Senate met and passed a handful of non-controversial bills that were deemed necessary to implement the budget.

Today the House successfully passed a $10 billion transportation tax package which includes a tax on gasoline. This is after a failed attempt yesterday.The future of the transportation package is uncertain in the Senate.

In addition, the House may take up legislation to stiffen drunken-driving penalties that was passed by the Senate earlier.

Read more here: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/politics/2013/06/27/morning-update-4-days-left-to-pass-a-budget-2nd-special-session-day-16/#storylink=cpy

Budget Deal Near, We Think

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Yesterday Governor Inslee held a press conference to provide an update on the special session. Inslee stated that a major breakthrough in the negotiations had taken place in the morning and that a budget deal was imminent.

As of this morning no announcement regarding a final deal or what that deal will look like. Word on the street is that budget negotiators are focused on the smaller details of the budget, closing in on a final deal.

On the heels of a positive revenue forecast last week, momentum has picked up to bring a close to this second special session prior to July 1 and well before the full thirty days run out. The House and Senate convened for floor action on Sunday afternoon and again Monday afternoon, passing non-controversial legislation deemed necessary to implement the budget.

Today both chambers are convening earlier in the day with the House arriving this morning and the Senate at Noon.

Revenue Forecast Released; May Be the News Necessary to Reach Final Budget

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This morning the Washington Revenue Forecast Council met for the release of the quarterly revenue forecast.

The forecast projects that the state will take in $231 million more than was expected – $100 million for 2011-13 and $121 million for 2013-15.  In addition the release of the caseload forecast this afternoon is expected to provide $90 million in relief. This good news may be the push needed for the Legislature to strike a final budget and head home.

Throughout the legislative session and the first special session budget negotiators have been stuck trying to reach a deal for additional revenue (House) and reform legislation (Senate). The projected increase in the revenue forecast may allow for the case to be made that additional revenue is not needed and in turn no reform (such as workers compensation and K-12) would be necessary at this time in exchange for revenue.