Tag Archives: state legislature

WA Senate Confirms Evergreen Trustee

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This morning the Washington Senate, in a vote of 45-0, confirmed Fred Goldberg as a trustee 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 1990.

House Higher Education Takes Time to Learn More about Mental Health, Campus Safety and Student Debt

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This morning the House Higher Education opened the day with a busy work session. The Committee heard from three panels with regard to three major, topical issues impacting the climate on higher education campuses – campus safety, student debt and mental health.

In a focused presentation before the Committee, Elizabeth McHugh, Director of Counseling and Health Services addressed national trends and strategies,  with regard to mental health and student services on campus.  Evergreen was joined by colleagues from Western Washington University and the community and technical colleges.

The Committee also heard from a panel of campus safety officers from Washington State University, Central Washington University, and Eastern Washington University with regard to campus safety trends and strategies on higher education campuses.

Finally the Committee heard from students from the University of Washington with regard to student-driven work on campus to analyze student debt at the University.

Senate Ways & Means Advances Legislation

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This afternoon the Senate Ways & Means Committee advanced several bills to the Senate floor. Today marked the deadline for all bills before the appropriation committees to be advanced to either the Senate or House floor.

The Committee advanced three higher education related bill.

  • SB 6042 would establish an incentive funding framework for Washington’s public baccalaureate institutions. A substitute was passed out of committee that made several changes to the bill including clarifications with regard to funding and metrics as well as repeal of former performance related reporting requirements.
  • SB 6362  would implement greater efficiencies for the public, baccalaureate institutions. The legislation would make changes to business practices resulting in greater efficiency and effectiveness for Washington’s public baccalaureate institutions. A substitute was passed out of committee that removed language to allow the pre-design threshold to increase from $5 million to $10 million.
  • SB 6482 would add the branch campuses to the display of campus information on the statewide public four-year dashboard.

Appropriation Committee Hears Higher Education Legislation

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This afternoon the Senate Ways & Means Committee held a series of public hearings in a marathon session. The Senate and House face another major deadline tomorrow when all bills before the appropriation committees must have moved to their respective floors for further consideration.

Of the forty-five bills scheduled for a public hearing before Senate Ways & Means the Committee heard three higher education related bills.

The Committee held a public hearing on legislation to implement greater efficiencies for the public, baccalaureate institutions (SB 6362). The legislation 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. The University of Washington and Central Washington University testified on behalf of the public, baccalaureate institutions in favor of the bill.

The Committee also heard about legislation to establish an incentive funding framework for Washington’s public baccalaureate institutions (SB 6042). The Council of Presidents (COP) testified on this bill earlier in the session in the Senate Higher Education Committee 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. COP echoed its earlier testimony before the Senate Ways & Means Committee.

Finally the Committee held a public hearing on legislation to require the display of branch campus information on the statewide public four-year dashboard (SB 6482).

Policy Committees Meet Deadline Moves Bills to Next Step

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This afternoon the Senate Higher Education Committee met and took action on several bills. This marks the last committee session prior to the policy cut-off on Friday in the Senate.

The Committee advanced a number of gubernatorial appointments to public, higher education four- and two-year institutions.

In addition the Committee focused considerable amount of time on advancing legislation either to Senate Ways & Means or the Senate floor for further consideration. Among the legislation advanced included requiring the display of branch campus information on the statewide public four-year dashboard (SB 6482) and creating a work group to make recommendations for the continued viability of the college bound scholarship program (SB 6436).

The Committee amended and advanced legislation that would create an eight-member legislative task force to provide recommendations to the Governor and Legislature on establishing a cap  for undergraduate resident tuition by December 1, 2014. (SB 6043). The original bill would have established a cap on undergraduate, resident tuition 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.

In addition the Committee advanced legislation to implement greater efficiencies for the public, baccalaureate institutions (SB 6362). The legislation 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.

The focus will now turn to the appropriation committees through early next week followed by several days of floor session.

Higher Education Policy Committees Move Legislation as Deadline Nears

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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.

Senate Higher Education Committee Wears Many Hats this Afternoon

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The Senate Higher Education Committee convened this rainy afternoon on The Hill. The Committee opened with a public hearing on two conferees to the boards of higher education institutions. Chair Bailey welcomed Fred Goldberg a member of The Evergreen State College Board of Trustees and Claire Grace a member of the Higher Education Facilities Authority. Goldberg and Grace were asked to share with the committee their background and bios and to express why they are interested in serving on the Board they were appointed. In addition, both were asked to respond to their goals and hopes as Board members.

Following the public hearing with gubernatorial appointments, the Committee conducted a work session to gain a better understanding of the cost of attendance and financial aid options at a research university, regional university, community college, and private university as well a student loans. The Committee heard from a variety of institutions with regard to their student demographics, their mission, and their financial aid policies. The University of Washington and Eastern Washington University presented from the public baccalaureate sector.
The Committee closed the meeting with a public hearing on legislation that would require institutions of higher education to provide certain financial aid information to admitted and prospective students (SB 6358). All of the public baccalaureate institutions and the majority of community and technical colleges already provide students with this information. The State Board for Community and Technical Colleges and the Washington Student Achievement Council testified in support.

House Higher Education Moves Bills to Next Step

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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

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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.

 

Evergreen Presents on Legislative Enhancement

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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.