This morning the House Education Appropriations committee held a work session on interm planning.
Several members of the committee shared potential ideas and discussion points for the interim. Among those mentioned with regard to higher education included nonresident vs. resident enrollments, teacher preparation, the gap between those who graduate from high school and those that enroll in some form of postsecondary education, and the use of technology.
Budgets, budgets, budgets…this is again the focus of the upcoming week.
The House will begin debate on their proposed biennial budget this afternoon. Several amendments have already been introduced. The House is expected to vote on the budget tomorrow (Saturday, April 9).
On Monday or Tuesday the Senate is expected to release their proposed 2011-13 operating and capital biennial budgets. Public hearings and further action on the Senate’s proposed budget will follow.
In addition to action on the budgets, legislators will have a long week on the floor of each chamber.
On Tuesday (April 12), the Legislature faces another major deadline requiring each chamber to consider bills from the opposite chamber. With that in mind, this week’s schedule includes limited committee meetings – primarily focused on the budgets or interim planning – with most of the time spent on the House and Senate floor as another major deadline looms.
Late in the evening the House passed Senate Bill 6409, which re-brands and markets the state lottery to recognize the expanded use of lottery revenues (established in the bill) to benefit higher education financial aid programs, early learning, and economic development.
Senate Bill 6409 creates the Washington Opportunity Pathways Account. Beginning in state fiscal year 2011, all net revenues from in-state lottery games that are not otherwise dedicated to debt service on the Safeco Stadium and Qwest Field and Exhibition Center are dedicated to the new account. All net income from the multi-state lottery games, other than those dedicated to the Problem Gambling Account, are deposited into the Washington Opportunity Pathways Account rather than into the General Fund.
The Washington Opportunity Pathways Account may only be used for the following programs: recruitment of entrepreneurial researchers, innovation partnership zones, and research teams; the early childhood education and assistance program (ECEAP); the State Need Grant; the State Work Study program; College Bound Scholarships; Washington Promise Scholarships; Washington Scholars; the Washington Award for Vocational Excellence (WAVE); the Passport to College Promise; the Educational Opportunity Grant; and GET Ready for Math & Science Scholarships.
Senate Bill 6409 is also expected to provide another $15 million in lottery revenues, from re-branding and market efforts, to help offset the $2.8 billion state budget deficit.
Senate Bill 6409 now goes to the Governor for her signature.
With only three days to go until the Washington Legislature must adjourn the 2010 supplemental session several major pieces necessary to allow policymakers to leave Olympia without a special session remain in motion.
Here is the latest as of this morning.
Operating Budget
The 2010 supplemental operating budget (ESSB 6444) has passed both the House and Senate and is now in conference.
Capital Budget
The House proposed 2010 supplemental capital budget (HB 2836) is on the House floor waiting for further consideration. The Senate proposed 2010 supplemental capital budget (SB 6364) is on the Senate floor waiting for further consideration.
Revenue Legislation
Two revenue-related bills have made it into the end-game. Senate Bill 6143– increases taxes and closes loopholes – and Senate Bill 6874 – increases tobacco product tax.
Senate Bill 6134 has passed both the House and Senate and is now in conference.
Senate Bill 6874 is on the House floor awaiting further consideration.
The eighth week of the 2010 supplemental session will be focused on budget and revenue.
Both the House and Senate released their proposed 2010 supplemental operating budgets this past week. The Senate has yet to release its proposed 2010 supplemental capital budget and the House has yet to release a revenue package.
Fiscal committees will be busy through Monday of next week moving the proposed budget and revenue packages forward as well as any remaining bills in their committees. Both committees must have moved bills from the opposite chamber to the floor by end of day Monday, March 1.
Tuesday through the adjournment of the 2010 supplemental session will be focused on finalizing budgets and revenue packages. So the floors of both chambers will be the center of legislative action from here on out.
Having said that it is worth keeping an eye on the House and Senate fiscal committees for a conference budget and bills (i.e. fiscal and policy) that are Necessary to Implement the Budget (NITB) (i.e. Senate Ways & Means and House Ways & Means).
It is also worth watching legislative policy committees (i.e. House Higher Education and Senate Higher Education & Workforce Development) . Many of the policy committees will hold work sessions next week on hot issues or plans for the Interim.
The release of the House and Senate proposed 2010 supplemental budgets earlier this week reflected the hard work of the higher education sector in Washington (i.e. students, faculty, and institutions) to lobby the Washington Legislature on the importance of state financial aid to access and affordability of higher education and the state’s dedication to funding these programs.
Both chambers restored funding for the State Need Grant, restored partial funding for the State Work Study program, and maintained commitments to current recipients of several smaller grant programs.
Though the overall outcome is a positive one for state financial aid in Washington, the details between the House and Senate proposal are worth noting.
Below is a table that summarizes the impact of the proposed operating budgets on the financial aid programs managed by the Higher Education Coordinating Board. In addition, what follows is a brief definition of the lesser known financial aid programs and the details behind the numbers for each proposal on the table. Please note that the Table is sparse regarding the Governor’s proposal. Detals are provided in the narrative that follows.
State Work Study
Governor
Suspends funding for this program.
Senate
Maintains average student earnings at current levels. Increases required employer share of wages to approx. 50% (formerly 35%)for proprietary employers and 30% (formerly 20%) for non-profits . Discontinues eligibility to non-resident students.
House
Reduces the amount of money students can earn for college in an academic year through part-time work with their wages subsidized by the state.
Washington Scholars
Provides four-year scholarships equivalent to approximately 90 percent of full tuition for three outstanding high school graduates from each legislative district each year.
Governor
Suspends funding for this program.
Senate
Does not award new scholarships for 2010 high school graduates. Freezes current award grant levels for current recipients.
Passport to College
The program includes college awareness, preparation, and mentoring for young people currently in foster care to encourage them to pursue higher education; scholarships for those who enroll in college; and incentives for their college and university to provide counseling and other supports that will enhance the young person’s success in college.
Senate
Reduces funding by one-third.
State-Funded GEAR-UP Projects
Provides pre-collegiate preparation services to students in school districts without structured college access programs.
Senate
Reduces funding by one-third.
House
Reduces funding for this program by reducing the number of school districts served by the state GEAR UP program.
WAVE (Washington Award for Vocational Excellence)
Provides two-year scholarships equivalent to full tuition for three outstanding high school vocational/technical graduates from each legislative district each year.
Senate
Does not award new scholarships for 2010 high school graduates. Freezes current award grant levels for current recipients.
Health Professional Loans & Scholarships
The loan repayment provides loan payment assistance to licensed primary care health professionals. The scholarship provides conditional scholarships to students training to become primary care health professionals. In return, program participants agree to provide primary care health care in rural or underserved urban areas with designated shortages.
Senate
Suspends funding for this program. Funding continues to be available for scholarships and three-year loan re-payment commitments awarded in previous years.
House
Reduces funding for this program. Individuals currently receiving scholarships or loan repayment benefits will continue to receive them, the number of new scholarships and loan repayment awards is reduced.
Future Teachers Scholarships
In return for conditional scholarships or loan repayments, participants agree to teach in Washington K-12 public schools. Selection criteria include academic ability, contributions to the public school system, potential to serve as a positive role model for students, length of time until completion of the education program, and commitment to serve as a Washington classroom teacher.
Governor
Suspends funding for this program.
Senate
Suspends funding for this program. Funding continues to be available for current recipients who were awarded scholarships in previous years to complete their studies.
House
Suspends funding for this program. Students currently receiving scholarships or loan repayment benefits will continue to receive them, the number of new scholarship and loan repayment awards is reduced.
Community School Matching Grants
Provides $2,000 matching awards as an incentive for non-profit, community-based organizations to raise local dollars for college student scholarships.
House
Reduces funding for this program.
Western Interstate Compact for Higher Education (WICHE) Professional Student Exchange
Senate
Suspends funding for this program. Funding is available to continue scholarship commitments to current recipients and to pay dues for Washington’s continued participating in the compact so that Washington residents may continue to receive reduced non-resident tuition rates at participating universities in other western states.
State Work Study Math and Science
Targets state work study experience for students considering careers in math and science instruction.
Senate
Suspends funding for this program.
Foster Care Endowment Scholarship
Scholarships come from the earnings from an endowment which are expected to eventually be sufficient to support college scholarships for former foster care recipients.
Senate
No contribution is made in the second year of the biennium toward an endowment fund
Leadership 1000
A College Success Foundation program that recruits private donors to sponsor scholarships and provide mentorship to financially needy students. State funding is leveraged with private donations.
Senate
Suspends funding for this program.
House
Reduces funding for this program.
Educational Opportunity Grants
Provides additional financial assistance for community and technical college graduates who would otherwise b unable to attend a distant public baccalaureate institution because of work or financial obligations in their home community.
Senate
Suspends funding for this program. Funding continues to be available to complete scholarship commitments to current recipients, but no new applicants will be selected for the 2010-11 academic year.
State Need Grant
Governor
Reduces Median Family Income to 50%. Prorates grant awards to serve students eligible under 50% MFI.
Senate
Proposed revenue package directs $136 million into the Education Legacy Trust Account to maintain enrollment and grant levels.
House
Reduces funding for the State Need Grant. Due to higher than anticipated federal aid allocations, the program needs less state funding in FY 2011 than previously estimated. Eligibility and grant awards are not changed. Maintains policy enacted in the 2009-11 biennial budget.
Today, House and Senate policy committees continued to work bills from the opposite chamber through the legislative process.
The House has less than 24 hours to consider policy bills from the Senate before the deadline for policy bills is reality. The House must move Senate initiated policy bills by 5:00 p.m. on February 23.
The Senate has a few more days to get bills through the process. The Senate must move House policy bills to an appropriations committee or to the floor by 5:00 p.m. February 26.
Several bills of interest to Evergreen were heard by policy committees today and one bill was moved to the floor by the Senate Ways & Means Committee.
This morning the Senate Early Learning & K12 Education Committee held a public hearing on Senate Bill 3068. SB 3068 expands eligibility to additional students if funds are available for the conditional scholarship after currently qualified students have been accepted. Evergreen has supported the passage of SB 3068 since it was introduced earlier this session.
At the same time, the Senate Natural Resources, Ocean, and Recreation committee held a public hearing on House Bill 2481. HB 2481 provides the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) with the necessary tools and resources to be a viable partner in the emerging biomass industry in Washington. The bill authorizes DNR to maintain a list of all potential sources of forest biomass on state lands for the purposes of making biomass available ot others; allows DNR to enter into biomass contracts for up to 5 years; and authorizes DNR to lease lands for the purpose of biomass.
Evergreen has testified in support of House Bill 2481 as a vehicle by which to stabilize DNR’s viability as a potential partner with the College in our Biomass Gasification Project effort.
In the afternoon, the Senate Ways & Means Committee took action on Senate Bill 6409. SB 6409, which Evergreen supports, creates the Washington Investment in Excellence Account. The Account is funded through state lottery proceeds and directs those funds to a range of research and financial aid programs. In particular the programs eligible to receive funds from the Account include efforts to recruit entrepreneurial researchers, innovation partnership zones, and research teams and higher education financial aid programs including opportunity grants, educational opportunity grants, state work study, GET ready for math and science scholarships, passport to college promise, college bound scholarships, and the Washington promise scholarship.
The Senate Ways & Means Committee amended the bill in executive session. The amendment to the bill makes the following changes:
On Wednesday the House Committee on Higher Education held a public hearing on House Bill 2936, introduced by Representative Anderson in an effort to increase efficiencies in the state financial aid system. Evergreen did not testify during the hearing.
The intent of the bill, as articulated by Representative Anderson, would be to encourage younger students to enter higher education and keep financial aid paced with budget cuts. The mechanisms proposed to accomplish these goals – limiting State Need Grant eligibility to individuals under the age of twenty-nine and cutting off the award after two years – came under criticism by individuals testifying. Those voicing opposition included the State Higher Education Coordinating Board, the Council of Presidents, the State Board of Community and Technical Colleges, members of the Council of Faculty Representatives, the Washington Student Association, the State Workforce Board, and the Independent Colleges of Washington State. Concerns included the exclusion of older students, who represent high percentages of community and trade college students as well as those who transfer into baccalaureate programs from community colleges, as well as those who do not move through the higher education system in traditional time frames.
The Senate Higher Education & Workforce Development Committee held a public hearing this afternoon focused on tuition policy. Four bills held the attention of Committee Members and a packed hearing room for nearly three hours.
SB 6276 – Grants the University of Washington tuition-setting authority.
SB 6562 – Authorizes the governing boards of the four-year, public institutions to set tuition and fees for resident undergraduate students with constraints, requires institutions to develop performance agreements with the state, and increases the amount that institutions must maintain for financial aid.
SB 6509 – Modifies the current budget proposal process between the HECB and the institutions to include recommendations on tuition and fees.
SB 6625 – Changes higher education tuition and financial aid provisions.
Each of the Senate bills approached tuition policy in a different way, especially with regard to levels of flexibility, required financial aid investments, and the establishment of performance agreements between the four-year public institutions and the State of Washington.
Students from across Washington expressed concerns regarding shifting tuition setting authority from the Legislature to the governing boards of the four-year, public institutions. Most students spoke in favor of SB 6509 and shared concerns about the three remaining bills. Students shared specific concerns with regard to SB 6562 including the high tuition cap, lack of oversight in the bill, and exclusion of graduate tuition and fees.
The six presidents of the public baccalaureate institutions spoke as a panel to the bills and tuition policy overall. Chair Kilmer captured the comments of the presidents well by restating five principles/themes he noted from their comments.
1. Optimize the state investment in higher education.
2. Any tuition policy does not release the state from its responsibility to fund higher education.
3. The unique missions and students mixes of each institution must be acknowledged relative to state appropriations, tuition, and financial aid.
4. Tuition policy should provide limits that will allow students greater predictability and stability.
5. Accountability of the institutions is a critical component of any tuition policy dialogue.
In his comments to the Committee, President Purce acknowledged the major role tuition plays in our higher education funding structure and the unprecedented economic times facing Washington, which will require non-traditional thinking and strategies to manage our public institutions.
Purce affirmed Evergreen’s long-held position on tuition by stating that the College believes that any conversation regarding higher education funding must integrate and acknowledge the interplay between state appropriations, financial aid, and tuition. In addition, he welcomed the active dialogue Evergreen is engaged in with the other public, four-year institutions in Washington to move forward a policy by which higher education can have the tools necessary to manage in times of even more cuts this year and those projected for the 2011-13 biennium.
Purce echoed the need for the state and higher education to make a commitment to find a way(s) that recognize the different missions among the institutions, different student bodies, a strength of Washington’s higher education sector, and meet the unusual circumstances we find ourselves in as a sector and as a state.
State Treasurer Jim McIntire provided his personal support for SB 6562. He stated that institutions should be responsible to set their own tuition prices that reflect the unique markets each institution works within. In addition, he recognized the limited authority provided in the bill to raise tuition, presence of accountability measures via performance agreements, and need to maintain the integrity and quality of Washington institutions of higher learning.
Ann Daley, Executive Director for the Higher Education Coordinating Board, discussed tuition policy within the context of the Board’s recent tuition policy study. She encouraged policymakers to aim to recalibrate the relationship between tuition, financial aid, and state approprations.
In addition, representatives from the Governor’s Office, League of Education Voters, business community, faculty, and the community colleges also testified to the need to protect the quality of higher education while keeping the doors open to students.
Several work sessions and public hearings are scheduled on critical issues that impact higher education the second week of session. To learn more follow the links below.
This week the focus of the appropriations committees (i.e. Senate Ways & Means and House Ways & Means) will be a review of the Governor’s proposed supplemental budgets, both capital and operating.
In addition, the higher education policy committees (i.e. House Higher Education and Senate Higher Education & Workforce Development) plan to tackle several critical issues impacting Washington’s institutions of higher learning, including system design, tuition policy, and financial aid.