Senate Higher Education Committee Moves Evergreen Trustees to Floor

Posted on February 6, 2014 by jgarver

On Tuesday afternoon the Senate Higher Education Committee took action on several gubernatorial appointments to various higher education related boards.

Among those appointments advanced by the Committee was the appointments of Fred Goldberg and Keith Kessler trustees to The Evergreen State College Board of Trustees.

Fred Goldberg is a philanthropist, Army veteran, banker and entrepreneur. He helped found Saltchuk Resources, a global logistics company, currently the largest private company in Washington State. Recently retired from active management of the company, Fred continues to serve on the Saltchuk board. As a banker, Fred saw the evolution of the Thurston County State Bank into Puget Sound National Bank and then into Key Bank, serving in various leadership roles throughout the decades. He currently serves on the board of Columbia Bank.

Fred has deep roots in Olympia, where he operated his family’s third-generation furniture business, volunteered at the Washington State Capital Museum and helped the Panorama City retirement community regain financial stability in the 1990s.

Keith Kessler is a plaintiff’s personal injury attorney with the Hoquiam and Seattle Law Firm of Stritmatter Kessler Whelan Coluccio, representing brain- and spinal cord-injury survivors. He focuses his practice largely on highway and product safety. His recent articles have addressed the need for open government.

Keith is a Fellow with the American College of Trial Lawyers, having been selected from among the top 1% of trial attorneys in the United States and Canada. He has served as President of the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association, President of the invitation-only Damage Attorneys Round Table, and President of the American Board of Trial Advocates, Washington Chapter. He is a member of the Washington Supreme Court’s Pattern Jury Instructions Committee.

Both appointments now await confirmation by the Senate.

Higher Education Policy Committees Move Legislation as Deadline Nears

Posted on February 6, 2014 by jgarver

This week marks the first major deadline of the 2014 supplemental session. The policy committees in the House and Senate, including the House and Senate Higher Education Committees, must move bills forward to either the floor or the appropriations committee to keep them “alive” this session by the close of business on Wednesday. The same is true in the Senate with the deadline this Friday.

It is worth noting that a bill may not move forward by this deadline but may still be active because it is “Necessary to Implement the Budget” or may reappear as part of the budget.

The House Higher Education Committee held a series of public hearings on Tuesday morning. Among the bills taken up by the Committee included an audit of the state universities (HB 2038) and the creation of an Institute for Teaching Excellence (HB 2661).

Evergreen testified with concerns about proposed legislation that would design and implement a program that provides information to high achieving, low-income high school students with the intention of increasing the number of applications from this group four-year institutions of higher education in Washington (HB 2694). As drafted Evergreen expressed concerns about the inclusion of the term “selective” as it relates to identifying higher education institutions, the stated assumption in the bill that national aptitude tests are predictors of college success, and the need to ensure a broad range of options to identify high achieving students. Western Washington University also expressed concerns about the bill.

The Committee also moved several bills through to the next step. Among the bills the Committee to action was legislation to concerning mentoring and service learning opportunities in Washington (HB 2400), efficiency legislation for Washington’s public baccalaureate institutions (HB 2613), establishing statewide educational attainment goals (HB 2626) and the creation of the Pay It Forward program (HB 2720).

In the afternoon the Senate Higher Education Committee held several public hearings on proposed legislation. Among the bills that the Committee focused its attention on was efforts to expand the display of metric information for the public baccalaureate institutions to include the branch campuses (SB 6482) and to provide a tuition and fee exemption to the children and surviving spouses of certain highway workers (SB 6370).

The Council of Presidents testified against Senate Bill 6043 which would cap tuition for undergraduate residents students so as not to exceed 10% of the most current average annual wage reported by the Washington Employment Security Department (ESD). The average annual wage reported by ESD in 2012 was $51,595.

The Committee also moved several gubernatorial appointments to higher education related boards forward to the Senate Floor for confirmation.

Washington Senate Passes DREAM Act

Posted on January 31, 2014 by jgarver

This afternoon the Washington Senate passed the Real Hope Act (SB 6523) with a vote of 35-10.

The bill would allow students to be eligible for the State Need Grant program if they met the following criteria:

Completed the full senior year of high school and obtained a diploma at a Washington public or private high school, or received the equivalent of a diploma;
Lived in Washington for at least three years immediately prior to receiving the diploma or its equivalent;
Continuously lived in the state after receiving the diploma or its equivalent and until being admitted to a public institution of higher education; and
Provided to the institution an affidavit indicating that the individual will file an application to become a permanent resident at the earliest opportunity the individual is eligible to do so and a willingness to engage in other activities necessary to acquire citizenship.

Granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) Status;
Completed the full senior year of high school and obtained a diploma at a Washington public or private high school, or received the equivalent of a diploma;
Lived in Washington for at least three years immediately prior to receiving the diploma or its equivalent; and
Continuously lived in the state after receiving the diploma orits equivalent and until
being admitted to a public institution of higher education.

The bill now goes to the House for consideration.

House Higher Education Committee Closes Week with Public Hearings

Posted on January 31, 2014 by jgarver

Bright and early this morning the House Higher Education Committee held public hearings on a range of bills that focus on funding for higher education, affordability and access.

The Committee kicked off the morning with a hearing on legislation that would adopt the goals put forward by the Washington Student Achievement Council (WASAC) (HB 2626) and heard legislation to implement a performance funding framework for Washington’s public baccalaureate institutions (HB 2653).

Among the bills taken up by the Committee this morning was legislation that would move Washington forward to implement a voluntary Pay-It-Forward model for students at five high schools selected by WASAC (HB 2720). Evergreen, Washington State University (WSU), and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) expressed concerns about the proposal with regard to the impact on student debt and access. Evergreen and WSU encouraged legislators to focus on fully funding the existing financial aid programs and investing in the institutions to offset increases in tuition. The Economic Opportunity Institute and a citizen testified in support.

The Committee closed the meeting with the passage of three bills. House Bill 2429 would create the Washington Advance Higher Education Loan Pilot Program, House Bill 2396 would require WASAC to conduct an analysis of Washington’s Running Start Program, and House Bill 2486 would eliminate the current statute that prohibits the Department of Corrections from paying for post-secondary education and would authorize the DOC to implement post-secondary education programs within existing funds.

House Higher Education Moves Bills to Next Step

Posted on January 30, 2014 by jgarver

This afternoon the House Higher Education Committee took action on a handful of bills. The Committee moved legislation, ranging from a review of institutional higher education policies related to dual credit coursework to authorizing an increase in the total outstanding indebtedness of the higher education facilities authority.

Following the executive session, the Committee held two public hearings. The Committee heard testimony from the public baccalaureates regarding the institution’s efficiency legislation. The bill (HB 2613) would make changes to business practices resulting in greater efficiency and effectiveness for Washington’s public baccalaureate institutions. Among the changes proposed is permissive authority to prorate paychecks for faculty on nine-month appointments, to change payroll frequency from semi-monthly to biweekly and changes to existing reporting requirements. Some concern was expressed by the Council of Presidents about additional language that was added to the bill, beyond the efficiencies identified by the institutions, that may actually increase the workload and require additional resources to implement.

The Committee also held a public hearing on legislation that would “clean-up” higher education related statutes by removing obsolete statutes and making technical corrections to existing statutes (HB 2546).

The Committee is scheduled for additional public hearings and executive sessions on Friday.

Higher Education Committees Hold Public Hearings; Move Legislation

Posted on January 29, 2014 by jgarver

Today marked the first full day of public hearings in both the Senate and House Higher Education Committees. With the first deadline of the session nearing next week, both committees focused on public hearings and executive sessions to move bills through to the next step.

The deadline for policy bills in the House is next Wednesday followed by a deadline on Friday for the Senate.

This morning the House Higher Education Committee held several public hearings. The bills ranged from legislation focused on the promotion of mentoring and service learning (HB 2400) to changing provisions with regards to the opportunity scholarship (HB 2612)

Evergreen testified with concerns on legislation that would direct the Education Research and Data Center to publish employment and earnings data on its website for higher education program completers (HB 2443). Evergreen shared support for conversations that recognized the role of higher education in post-graduate success of students, but questioned the use of employment and wage data as the best metrics by which to measure institutional success. Many factors influence a graduate’s earning and employment that are beyond the control of the institution. Instead Evergreen proposed that degree attainment be the focus because there is a primary responsible by institutions to move students through to degree and connect students while they are attending a college/university to internship, mentoring, and advising opportunities to make the link between their academic studies and future employment.

The University of Washington also expressed concerns with regard to data definitions and proposed including data that extended beyond five years post-graduation as suggested in the bill. Evergreen concurred with these concerns. The State Board of Community Colleges also testified with concerns.

Evergreen also signed in as a member of the Council of Presidents in support of legislation that would address the implementation of inmate postsecondary education degree programs to reduce recidivism (HB 2486).

In the afternoon the Senate Higher Education Committee held a public hearing on the public baccalaureate’s efficiency legislation (SB 6362). This bill would make changes to business practices resulting in greater efficiency and effectiveness for Washington’s public baccalaureate institutions. Among the changes proposed is permissive authority to prorate paychecks for faculty on nine-month appointments, to change payroll frequency from semi-monthly to biweekly and changes to existing reporting requirements.

Evergreen signed-in support of this legislation.

The Committee also held an executive session in which several gubernatorial appointments were moved from committee to the full Senate for confirmation. However the Committee did take action on legislation to establish an incentive funding framework for Washington’s public baccalaureate institutions (SB 6042). The Council of Presidents testified on this bill earlier in the session citing support for performance funding and general support for the bill with the caveat that additional conversations with the institution was necessary to identify further details with regard to distribution of funds and metrics.

Both Committee are expected to continue their work on legislation the rest of this week.

Institutions Present on Incentive Funding in the Senate

Posted on January 23, 2014 by jgarver

Performance funding also known as incentive funding was the focus of the Senate Higher Education Committee this afternoon. The Committee held a work session on efforts in the two-year and public, four-year sectors and a public hearing on legislation that would implement a framework for the public baccalaureate sector.

Work Session

This afternoon Evergreen presented before the Senate 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.

Public Hearing

The Committee also held a public hearing on legislation that would place into statute a performance funding framework for Washington’s public baccalaureate institutions.

Senate Bill 6042 would create an incentive funding structure to encourage student success in Washington’s public baccalaureate institutions and provide a funding enhancement of $25 million each fiscal year based on institutional performance towards three statewide goals: (1) the number of degrees produced, (2) number of high demand degrees produced, and (3) number of degrees awarded to underrepresented students.

The Council of Presidents testified in support of a performance funding framework and in the general framework put forward in the bill. However the Council indicated additional conversations were necessary about the specific implementation of the framework.

Evergreen Presents on Legislative Enhancement

Posted on January 22, 2014 by jgarver

This afternoon Evergreen presented before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education regarding the legislative enhancement the College received for additional institutional support. In particular, Steve Trotter, Executive Director for Operational Budget and Planning and Julie Garver, Director for Governmental Relations presented on how much the College received and how the College has or plans to spend the funds in the 2013-15 biennium.

Evergreen received $2.899 million for additional institutional support above a fully funded maintenance level for the 2013-15 biennium. Recognizing reductions to support the Governor’s Lean Program and in the area of IT savings, the total funds available to the college was $2.861 million.

The funds appropriated to Evergreen increased state funding levels for the College and reduced the burden on students and families. The largest impact to students and families was the implementation of a tuition freeze for both academic years of the biennium. In addition Evergreen used these additional resource to enhance student, faculty and staff recruitment, retention and success initiatives and to improve the institution’s basic IT and business services.

Evergreen was joined by colleagues from the other public baccalaureate institutions in presenting on this information.

House Higher Education Hears from Institutions on Incentive Funding

Posted on January 22, 2014 by jgarver

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?

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

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

Posted on January 21, 2014 by jgarver

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.

Office of Governmental Relations

Tag Archives: higher education