Tag Archives: higher education

Governor’s Budget Released

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On Thursday Governor Inslee released his proposed 2015-17 Operating and Capital budgets.  The budget – Book 2- reflects the Governor’s focus that “after more than a decade of cutting vital services and neglecting obligations,… it is time to start reinvesting in Washington”. The budget proposes a mix of spending cuts, new revenue and reserves to pay for education and services.

The Governor also submitted, as required by law, a budget – Book 1 – that would provide for a balanced budget within existing revenues.

Governor’s Proposed Biennial Operating Budget

The Governor’s proposed budget – Book 2 – invests $2.3 billion in education.  Under his proposal the budget would provide funding to reduce class sizes statewide for kindergarten through third grade, meet the state’s commitment to fully fund basic education, make major investments in early learning, target investments to increase student success and boost graduation rates and freeze resident undergraduate tuition.

The budget also makes a number of other investments:

  • Increase mental health bed capacity to prevent inappropriate boarding of psychiatric patients
  • Hire more than 100 child protective and child welfare services workers to speed up investigations of abuse and neglect and ensure safe conditions for children in foster care
  • Boost staffing levels at state parks to restore services and catch up on a backlog of maintenance work
  • Implement the Governor’s proposed market-based carbon pollution reduction program
  • Prevent and respond to oil spills along rail lines and reduce toxics in our waters
  • Provide modest pay raises for state employees

The budget proposes tax and revenue changes ($1.4 billion) in combination with reserves and reductions to support the biennial operating budget. The budget uses $450 million from reserves and includes $211 million in General Fund spending reductions. Finally the proposal maximizes federal funds and shifts general fund costs to other fund sources to save an additional $212 million.

Among the tax and revenue changes is a new capital gains tax ($798 million) on the sale of stocks, bonds, and other assets to increase the share of state taxes paid by the wealthiest taxpayers, new revenue from a market-based carbon pollution reduction plan ($380 million), and a repeal of a sales tax exemption for trade-ins valued over $10,000 ($105 million).

 Higher Education

The Governor’s proposed budget freezes tuition for undergraduate, resident students for the biennium. No additional dollars are provided to offset the tuition freeze. The Governor will also introduce legislation to: (1) return tuition setting authority to the budget, (2) eliminate differential tuition, (3) repeal negotiation of Higher Education performance plans, (4) repeal publication of the 60th percentile global challenge states comparisons, and (5) amend financial aid mitigation provided with tuition setting authority so that any institution that exercised tuition setting authority above levels assumed by the legislature in 2011-13 and 2013-15 will continue to provide the financial aid mitigation.

In addition the budget makes an investment in math and science for each of the public baccalaureate institutions and the CCTCs and provides compensation at 3% and 1.8% for classified, professional, and faculty employees. The proposed funding only recognize the general fund portion. The remaining funding to support the compensation request is presumed to come from tuition but the budget prohibits increases in resident undergraduate tuition. This is also reflected in the health benefit increase. The budget also makes a handful of specific investments in other programs including the health professions, ocean acidification, and renewable energy.

Finally the budget maintains current funding for the State Need Grant and increases funding for the College Bound Scholarship program to recognize caseload increases.

It is worth noting that the Governor’s proposed budget without new revenues would result in a 10% reduction to higher education.

Evergreen

Under the Governor’s budget tuition would be frozen for undergraduate, resident students for the biennium at Evergreen. No additional investments are made to the College to offset the tuition freeze.

In addition the budget invests in math and science at Evergreen and provides compensation at 3% and 1.8% for classified, professional and faculty employees. The funding levels for compensation only recognizes the general fund portion, or just over a third of the cost. The remaining funding to support the compensation request is presumed to come from tuition but the budget prohibits increases in resident undergraduate tuition. This would require institutions to fund the rest from institutional dollars. For Evergreen this is $1.82 million. This split is also reflected in the health benefit increase. Evergreen would need to provide an estimated $169k.

Finally the budget requires Evergreen to report on STEM outcome measures, provides funding for several Washington State Institute for Public Policy studies in Evergreen’s allocation, and retains budget language in support of the Longhouse.

It is worth noting that the Governor’s proposed budget without new revenues would result in a 10% reduction to higher education, this would be a reduction of $2.13 million annually to Evergreen.

Capital Budget
Governor Inslee also proposed a biennial capital budget for higher education. The Governor provided 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.

Next Steps

The Governor’s budget is the first of many budgets that will be released to address the 2015-17 biennium. While the Governor’s budget is the first step in the budget development process, there will be at least four more legislative budgets to review as the legislative session progresses.

The Washington Legislature will convene on January 12 to begin its work to develop a biennial budget.  Over the next 105 days, the House and Senate will hold work sessions and public hearings on the gubernatorial proposed budgets as well as the budgets put forth by each chamber before finalizing a conference budget.

Washington Senate Democrats Announce Commitee Assignments

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This week the Washington Senate Democrats announced committee leadership and membership for the upcoming session.

Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles will be the ranking member on the Higher Education Committee.  Kohl-Welles will be joined by Senators David Frockt and Marko Liias.

In addition, Senator Jim Hargrove will continue as the ranking member on Senate Ways & Means, Senator Karen Keiser will continue as assistant ranking on Ways & Means for capital, and Senator Kevin Ranker will continue as assistant ranking on Ways & Means for operating.

House Republicans Name Committee Leaders and Members

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This week the Washington House Republicans announced committee leadership and membership for the upcoming session.

Representative Hans Zeiger (Puyallup) will be the ranking member and Representative Larry Haler (Richland) will be the assistant ranking leader on the Higher Education Committee.  Zeiger and Haler will be joined by Representatives Hargrove, Holy, Stambaugh, and Van Werven.

In addition, Representative Richard DeBolt will continue as ranking leader of the House Capital Budget committee, Representative Bruce Chandler will continue as the ranking member on the Appropriations committee, and Representative Terry Nealey will be the ranking member on Finance.

Governor Releases Education Plan

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Late yesterday Governor Inslee released his plan for education for the 2015-17 biennium. The plan, which extends across the continuum including early learning, K-12 and higher education, provides a $2.3 billion investment in the success of students from preschool to college.

In a statewide virtual town hall this evening, Governor Inslee shared the slate of education proposals.  The Governor’s budget would expand the state’s preschool program and provide $1.3 billion for basic education funding.  With regard to higher education, the Governor’s proposal:

  • Continues the current tuition freeze for resident, undergraduate students
  • Provides funding to meet increased demand for the state’s College Bound Scholarship program
  • Provides funding to meet the state’s contribution to the public-private Opportunity Scholarship program, which offers financial aid to qualified students in the STEM and health care fields
  • Expands advanced computer science and engineering programs at the research universities
  • Increases production of math and science graduates at the regional universities and Evergreen
  • Funds the Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) program at the community colleges
  • Increases job training and basic education access at the community and technical colleges for adults without a high school diploma
  • Targets industry investments to add aerospace apprenticeships, operate the composite wing incumbent worker training program and offer maritime licensing training program at the community colleges.

The overview is part of a week long rollout of the Governor’s 2015-17 biennial budget.  On Tuesday the Governor will release details regarding transportation followed by climate change on Wednesday. The full budget will be released on Thursday morning.

WA House Democrats Announce Committee Leadership and Membership

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This afternoon the Washington House Democrats announced committee chairs and vice chairs and membership for the upcoming session.

Representative Drew Hansen (Bainbridge Island) will chair and Representative Gerry Pollett (Seattle) will vice-chair the House Higher Education Committee.  Hansen and Pollett will be joined by Representatives Bergquist, Reykdal, Sells, Tarleton and the to-be-named representative of the 30th district.

In addition, Representative Hans Dunshee (Snohomish) will continue as chair of the House Capital Budget committee, Representative Ross Hunter (Medina) will chair the Appropriations committee, and Representative Reuven Carlyle (Seattle) will chair the Finance committee.

WA Student Achievement Council Releases Strategic Action Plan

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Building on the work of the Council’s 2013 Roadmap report, the 2014 Strategic Action Plan outlines important and immediate steps to meet the state’s attainment goals by 2023:(1)  All adults in Washington, ages 25-44, will have a high school diploma or equivalent and (2) at least 70 percent of Washington adults, ages 25-44, will have a postsecondary credential.

The Action Plan sets forth seven recommendations:

  • Fulfill caseload requirements for the College Bound Scholarship
  • Protect maintenance-level funding for public two- and four-year institutions
  • Serve more State Need Grant-eligible students
  • Expand the reach of dual-credit opportunities
  • Support underrepresented students
  • Reinvest in State Work Study
  • Develop an affordability framework.

The funding and policy recommendations in this plan were developed with input from stakeholders across the sectors, including K-12, community and technical colleges, and public and private baccalaureate institutions. The recommendations also align with the Council’s 2013 Roadmap report.

 

Evergreen Submits Biennial Budget

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Late last week Evergreen along with other state agencies and higher education institutions submitted the College’s 2015-17 biennial operating and capital budgets to the Office of Financial Management (OFM). OFM anticipates the arrival of 165 agency budget requests for consideration in the development of the Governor’s biennial budget proposal due in December.

Operating Budget

Evergreen’s operating budget seeks to build on the state’s leadership over the last biennium to support the first investment above maintenance level funding since the beginning of the Great Recession. Evergreen experienced an increase in state funding of 5.2% in the 2013-15 biennium. The investment by the state reduced the financial burden on students and families. Even with the enacted biennial budget, however state funds and tuition remain far below the level of support received prior to the Great Recession.

Within this context Evergreen’s operating budget builds on the 2013-15 biennial budget as a first step in a multi-biennial approach to stabilize funding for students, faculty and staff by supporting higher education. Evergreen is asking the state to maintain the support and investment the College received in the prior biennium. The request focuses on the need to support critical infrastructure for the College including market-rate compensation and maintenance operations. In addition the request asks for additional support to ensure that current programs and services are maintained at a level that recognizes student and state demands.

In particular the request proposes building on Evergreen’s quality STEM undergraduate programs, especially in the area of computer science and current efforts to reach out to underrepresented student populations with a focus on Latina/o students.

Finally, in accordance with OFM instructions, the College submitted a 15% budget reduction, which would more than reverse the gains made in higher education in recent years and dramatically impact Evergreen’s strong performance. After years of budget reductions the college would have very few options for absorbing a cut of this magnitude. At the same time further tuition increases are likely to suppress student demand especially given Evergreen’s commitment to serve low-income students.  To meet this level of reduction Evergreen would make reductions at the expense of current access to higher education.

Capital Budget

Evergreen’s biennial capital budget is consistent with prior submissions and continues to tightly integrate operating and capital budgets.  The request focuses on preservation of the College’s facilities and infrastructure. The request emphasizes the construction of the Lecture Hall Renovation as Evergreen’s top priority.  In addition the request includes funding for the Science Lab I basement construction and Seminar I Renovation predesign and design. The request also asks for authorization to enter into a Certificate of Participation through the Office of the State Treasurer for $12.5 million for the purchase of a permanent site for the Tacoma program. Finally the request includes funds for minor works and facilities preservation.

U.S. House Advances Higher Education Legislation

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This week the U.S. House of Representatives took action on two bills related to the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.

The Strengthening Transparency in Higher Education Act (HR 4983) eliminates the College Navigator and the accountability lists put forward by the U.S. Department of Education. The website and lists would be replaced by the College Dashboard Website. The new website, developed and maintained by the Department of Education, would include institutional-level information including enrollment data, completion rates, costs, financial aid offered and cohort default rates.

The Advancing Competency-Based Education Demonstration Project Act of 2013 (HR 3136) would relax financial aid rules to allow institutions to offer competency-based degrees. Several amendments were offered and accepted to the Act, including language to pilot the use of the tax return as the FAFSA.

The bills, introduced in June, are part of a series of bills advanced by the House to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. The bills now go to the U.S. Senate for consideration. The fate of the House bills is unknown. The Senate has decided to pursue a comprehensive approach to the reauthorization, instead of the piecemeal approach advanced by the House. Therefore it is unlikely that these bills or any other legislation related to the reauthorization will see any significant movement until the new Congress enters in January 2015.

Lead Democrat Releases Plan for HEA Reauthorization

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On the heels of the Republican release of their proposal to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, the Democrats released a “discussion draft” yesterday.

Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chair of the Senate education committee, released a draft proposal that will remain open for public comment through August 29.  In an outline of the proposal, the Senator put forward the following concepts:

  • Increase affordability and reduce college costs for students by creating a state-federal college affordability partnership to increase state investment in higher education and lower the costs of tuition for students.
  • Reinstate year-round Pell Grants.
  • Eliminate origination fees on federal Direct Loans.
  • Support community college and industry partnerships that promote innovation in higher education.
  • Expand access to dual enrollment and early college high school programs.
  • Strengthen student loan servicing standards through the creation of common-sense consumer protections.
  • Streamline repayment plans to create a single income-based repayment option.
  • Automatically enroll severely delinquent borrowers into income-based repayment.
  • Allow private student loans to be discharged in bankruptcy.
  • Reform abuses in the collections process and reduce unfair fees.
  • Provide student and policymakers with more meaningful disclosures and accountability metrics for institutions, including loan repayment rates.
  • Establish a risk-sharing commission to explore holding low-performing institutions financially responsible for poor student outcomes.
  • Protect taxpayers by changing the 90-10 rule for for-profit institutions to 85-15.
  • Guarantee that federal education dollars are not used on advertising and marketing.
  • Create a student complaint system to better track harmful practices.
  • Authorize several programs to reform and improve teacher and school leader preparation.
  • Provide notification to middle and high school students of their potential eligibility for federal aid.
  • Provide better up-front information and disclosures to prospective students.
  • Standardize the financial aid award letter .
  • Strengthen entrance and exit loan counseling.