Tag Archives: House Higher Education

Governor’s Task Force Recommendations Focus of Hearing

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This afternoon the House Higher Education Committee held the first work session on the recommendations put forth by the Governor’s Task Force on Higher Education.

In December, the Governor’s Task Force on Higher Education announced recommendations to improve accountability and performance of the state’s colleges and universities, and consider whether changes should be made in the way the state governs its higher education system

The Committee heard from several panels that included a mix of task force members, staff to the Governor, and representatives from industry. Members of the Committee engaged the panels in a dialogue regarding process, outcomes, and the committment of business to ensure the recommendations are successful.

Research the Focus of House Higher Education Committee

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This morning the House Higher Education Committee continued its efforts to better understand higher education in Washington with a focus on research.

Unique to this hearing was the opportunity for members of the committee to hear about the research efforts at Washington’s comprehensive institutions, including Evergreen.

In her presentation, Nancy Murray- faculty- focused on undergraduate research opportunities and preparing students for graduate work  at Evergreen. Murray was joined by Kate Reimer – a senior at Evergreen – who shared her perspective as an undergraduate researcher. 

Murray and Reimer were followed by researchers and presentations by Central Washington, Eastern Washington, and Western Washington universities.  These presentations were preceded by representatives from the University of Washington and Washington State University.

Faculty Highlighted in the House and Budgets the Focus of the Senate

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Led by Chair Seaquist the House Higher Education Committee continued its efforts to inform and educate itself about higher education in Washington.

This morning the Committee focused on faculty at both two- and four-year institutions in Washington. Faculty from Washington’s comprehensive institutions, including Evergreen, provided members with insights into who faculty are and what challenges they face in the classroom. Faculty from the research institutions and the community and technical colleges also shared their perspective.

In the afternoon, Higher education advocates, inlcuding the Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB) and the Council of Presidents (COP), spoke specifically to the impacts of declining state resources for higher education during the  January 19 Senate Higher Education & Workforce Development Committee’s work session.

Chair Rodney Tom focused the two-hour work session on the impact of reductions in state funding in recent years, highlighting the potential impact of the Governor’s proposed budget.

The work session provided the opportunity for higher education institutions to speak to specific impacts to their institutions through testimony and answer questions from policymakers.

Evergreen Opens for House Higher Education

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This afternoon The Evergreen State College opened the House Higher Education Committee hearing.

Ken Tabbutt, Interim Provost, provided the Committee with a brief overview of Evergreen followed by details regarding the impact of the Governor’s proposed 2011-13 operating budget.  Tabbutt highlighted both the fiscal and the policy impacts of the proposed budget. 

  • State funding is reduced for Evergreen by 26.3% for the 2011-13 biennium.
  • Proposed tuition revenue generated leaves Evergreen’s General Operating Fund budget in deficit. The Governor’s budget does not take into account costs associated with over-enrollments and assumes greater  tuition revenue raising capacity
  • Under this proposal tuition revenue represents 63% of Evergreen’s budget compared to 57% last biennium.
  • Assumes Evergreen permanently sustains current over-enrolled levels (2010-2011 4,600 FTE, approx: 400 over-enrolled)
  • Provides funding for the State Need Grant
  •  Eliminates the current per-student funding based budgeting and replaces with degree production based model.
  • Provides $250,000 per year for TRIO program expansion
  • Evergreen is eligible to participate in a new baccalaureate incentive system ($5 million for all public, baccalaureate institutions)
  • Retains proviso limiting where reductions can be made from the prior biennium
  • Removes higher education institutions as recipients of Education Legacy Trust Funds.

In addition, Tabbutt shared with committee members the reductions and efficiencies the College has taken to meet reductions in state funding since 2008 and what is at risk if this trend continues.

Following Evergreen’s presentation the Higher Education Coordinating Board, the Workforce Board, and the State Community & Technical Colleges Board provided an overview of the impacts of the Governor’s proposed budgets on their work.

House Higher Education Focuses on Budget

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This morning the House Higher Education Committee held a work session on higher education funding and budget priorities.

The Committee heard several overviews regarding the recent history of higher education funding in Washington and the impact of the Governor’s proposed 2011-13 biennial budget. Presentations were provided by Legislative staff, the Governor’s Office, and the Council of Presidents.

Following this overview, each four-year, public institution of higher education provided a brief presentation regarding the impacts of the Governor’s proposed budget and the impact of state funding reductions over the last few years.  Due to time constraints, Evergreen will provide their presentation on Monday, January 17.

The Committee wrapped-up their discussion with a student panel of representatives from the Washington Student Association to share their perspectives.

Note: All committee presentations can be found on the House Higher Education Committee’s website by clicking on Committee Meeting Documents, selecting the date and work session, and then selecting the presentation

Higher Education Policy Committees

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Led by Chair Larry Seaquist, the House Higher Education Committee started the morning with presentations about the students Washington’s public and private 2-year and 4-year sectors serve.

The Higher Education Coordinating Board provided an overview for the commitee. This was followed by panels that focused specifically on four-year public baccalaureate institutions, private baccalaureate institutions, community and technical colleges, and career colleges.

Mike Reilly, Executive Director for the Council of Presidents, shared with the committee an an overview of the student profile at Washington’s four-year, public institutions.

Following Reilly was a panel of five baccalaureate students, including Erin Dorrough  from The Evergreen State College. Each student shared with the Committee a little about themelves, their studies and what brought them to a Washington campus.

In the afternoon, the Senate Higher Education & Workforce Development Committee, led by Senator Rodney Tom, heard several presentations, including recommendations from the Technology Transformation Task Force and an overview by the Higher Education Coordinating Board on transfer and articulation in Washington.

Higher Education’s Contributions to the Economy and Citizenship Focus of First House Higher Education Cmte Hearing

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This afternoon the House Higher Education Committee began the 2011 legislative session with a work session focused on the contributions of higher education to society.

The work session was anchored by two substantial reports focused on the contributions higher education makes to both the economy and citizenship.

Dr. Zumeta, UW School of Public Affairs and Educational Leadership & Policy Studies focused on higher education’s impact on society.  His presentation focused on the impact of higher education on the economy and on several subgroups within society, including low-income individuals and underrepresented communities.

Dr. O’Mara, University of Washington History Department, provided a historical examination of the impact of higher education on society with an emphasis on Washington.

The Committee also received an overview of the state’s economic and revenue forecast and the health of the state’s labor market.

The next scheduled meeting of the House Higher Education is Wednesday, January 12.

* Note: All committee presentations can be found on the House Higher Education Committee’s website by clicking on Committee Meeting Documents, selecting the date and work session, and then selecting the presentation

Joint WA House Hearing Focuses on Higher Education

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Tuesday morning the Washington House Higher Education Committee joined the House Education Appropriations Committee to discuss several bedrock issues for higher education.

The Committee heard several presentations focused on the state’s current approach to higher education funding, accountability and performance, and the work of the Governor’s Higher Education Task Force.

Ways & Means Committee staff reported that the Legislature will likely need to consider an emerging ARRA Maintenance of Effort (MOE) issue.  Given recent reductions the state is approximately $25-$30 million below the MOE requirement that was tied to the stimulus dollars Washingon received in the 2009-11 biennium.

The accountabilityand performance discussion echoed much of the conversation that has happened over the last several years. Policymakers raised concerns regarding the absence of measurements about the quality of instruction and noted the emphasis on measurements that focus on pushing students through the system. 

Policymakers also dialogued with representatives from the Higher Education Coordinating Board, Council of Presidents, and the State Board of Community and Technical Colleges about the limits of current accountability and performance metrics, such as IPEDs, given the diverse way students approach and interact within the  higher education sector. In addition, policymakers expressed the need for “real” time data and the push to use technology to collect this data.

Finally, questions rose again regarding the use of the six-year graduation rate. Mike Reilly, Executive Director for the Council of Presidents, differentiated between the six-year graduation rate measurement and time to degree and the value of both.  It was also noted that using the 2003 cohort, Washington has the highest completion rate for public baccalaurate institutions in the nation; a rate that has improved by approximatley 9% over the last decade.

The Committees wrapped up their work this morning with a presentation from Governor Gregoire’s staff on the Higher Education Task Force regarding the work to date of the Task Force and next steps.

House Higher Education Holds Work Session on Tuition Policy

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This morning the House Higher Education Committee held an interim planning session regarding future work on tuition policy.

In a roundtable styled discussion members of the House Higher Education Committee joined in conversation with representatives from each of the four-year public baccalaureate institutions, the Washington Student Association, the Council of Faculty Representatives, the Washington Education Association, the Council of Presidents, American Federation of Teachers, League of Education Voters, Joint Legislatiave Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) staff, and Higher Education Coordinating Board staff.

The conversation began with an overview of the upcoming JLARC study of a transparent link between revenues, expenditures, and performance outcome measures in higher education. The study, directed to the Committee through passage of ESHB 2344 last session, requires JLARC, in a nutshell, to identify the links between funding sources, performance, and the state’s strategic plan for higher education.

The objectives of the study are grouped into categories of expenditures, revenue, performance outcome measures, and linkages. A preliminary report will be presented by staff at the September 2010 JLARC meeting and the final report at the October 2010 JLARC meeting.

The summary of the upcoming JLARC study provided a foundation for further discussion by those present this morning. The conversation moved from the study to the structure or focus of ongoing discussions between now and the 2011 legislative discussion around performance agreements, funding, tuition, and financial aid.

Members of the Higher Education Committee expressed their goal of wanting to have a healthy higher education system and argued that the JLARC study will serve as a cornerstone of this discussion. In other words, legislators expressed that the state budget is not going to get easier and the pressure on higher education will likely increase with regard to funding and hopes are riding high that the study will provide new insights.

Members also expressed the need to continue a discussion that places into a single conversation policies that impact tuition, financial aid, and cost management at institutions. Representative Anderson, Ranking Minority Leader on the Committee, shared that life has to change at institutiions and life and the commitment by the state has to change not just for the immediate future but for the long haul.

Those representing four-year institutions, faculty, and students focused the conversation on the future of performance agreements in Washington. It was widely recognized that the performance agreements submitted in 2009 reflected very different times and it is unclear how new performance agreements would integrate declining funds.

Rep. Wallace, Chair of the Committee, stated that performance agreements must reflect where the state is at any given time and where the state is headed. This was echoed by some institutional representatives who agreed that a performance agreement must work both in good and bad times.

Emphasis within this conversation was placed on the notion of an “agreement”. This reflects the frustration by institutions and some policymakers that a conversation and an agreement never emerged from the initial submission of performance agreements to a state committee.  Policymakers are concerned that an agreement may make promises that are unable to be met because of the state context or because the tie the hands of future legislatures.

Institutions are concerned that future performance agreements will result in the same ending that happened with the first submission – there was no conversation with policymakers and no process to lead to an agreement between institutions and the state.

In the end the conversation did not go much beyond initial discussions of performance agreements and the role of funding, tuition, and financial aid within a performance agreement framework.

However, the conversation did serve to kick-off interim discussions regarding higher education policy in Washington and is likely to be the first of many meetings between now and January 2011.

Legislature Week 6: What is Happening

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The sixth week of the 2010 supplemental session will likely be the most chaotic of the session.

The beginning of the week continues the Legislature’s focus on the floor as the cut-off for moving bills from their chamber of origin to the other chamber nears (February 16).

Overlapping slightly will be a resurgence of policy committee meetings as policymakers consider bills from the opposite chamber and prepare for the next deadline. All policy committees must move policy bills to either the floor or an appropriation committee by February 23. 

The focus of the higher education policy committees (i.e. House Higher Education and Senate Higher Education & Workforce Development) will be to move several bills impacting Washington’s institutions of higher education out of committee and either to the floor for consideration or to an appropriation committee.

In addition, the appropriations committees (i.e. Senate Ways & Means and House Ways & Means) will meet to continue their work on budget related matters.

Finally it is expected that both the House and Senate will release their proposed budgets sometime next week.