Revenue Forecast

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This morning the February state economic and revenue forecast was released.  The forecast shows projected General Fund revenues for the current biennium up by $95.7 million compared to the prior quarterly forecast in November. However, according to state budget director Marty Brown,  the real net gain is $45 million, because legislation adopted in December drove more than half of the gain.

According to the Olympian, in addition to the positive gain in revenue, “the recent caseload forecast showed lower demand for services, which is providing a larger, $330 million gain on the state’s balance sheet through June 2013.”

Interim state forecaster, Dr. Steve Lerch, did caution that the growing European economic debt crisis is cause for concern.  Looking to the future Lerch  predicts slow growth around 6.6% for the 2013-2015 biennium. While he cautions that Washington won’t reach pre-recession employment levels until 2014, he notes that Washington should outpace national rates. He warns, however, “while we think we are doing better than the U.S., this is still not great.”

What this means for the budget:

The slight uptick in revenue, when combined with the caseload savings, provides roughly an additional $375 million in savings for the state. Remember, revenue was down in November, so these savings bring the November shortfall down to roughly $1 billion.

During the forecast, Democratic Representative Ross Hunter, budget chair in the House, said the House will unveil their supplemental budget proposal between Monday and Wednesday of next week. Senator Ed Murray, budget chair for the Senate, said theirs would follow in the days or week following. Once both budgets have been unveiled the two chambers will begin negotiations to reconcile the two.

Whether new revenue proposals (i.e. tax measures that would go to the ballot) are still on the table, remains unknown at this point. According to Murray, a week ago he was sure his caucus would push ahead with the measure. “The recent news could change that, he said. Now it is a question.”

 

Legislative Floor Activity

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This past week we have seen most legislative activity spent on the floors of the House and Senate Chambers. Several pieces of legislation Evergreen has been following and advocating for have successfully made their way out of the Rules Committee and onto the floors of their respective chambers. Considered “regulatory relief” legislation, these bills are as follows:

HB 2259: Eliminating certain duplicative higher education reporting requirements. What is not a duplicative report, this bill would repeal the state requirements for institutions of higher education to report certian crime reports that are already being reported at the federal level.

HB 2585/SB 6401: Creating efficiencies for institutions of higher education. This bill deals with procurement procedures at institutions of higher education.

HB 2735: Regarding intermediate capital projects and minor works. This piece of legislation would increase the thresholds for predesign and minor works projects at institutions of higher education.

HB’s 2259 and 2585 passed unanimously off of the House Floor and will now move to the Senate for further consideration. 2585’s Senate companion, SB 6401, is awaiting consideration on the floor. HB 2735 is also awaiting consideration on the House floor.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, February 15, committee hearings pick back up in the House and Senate. Bills that are still alive will receieve hearings in their opposite chambers. We will continue to monitor them as we move through the remainder of the session.

On Thursday the Economic Revenue Forecast will be presented for the 1st quarter of 2012. The forecast will help determine that state of Washington’s budget. We will be closely watching that report.

 

New Face in Governmental Relations

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Greetings.  As the new Assistant Director of Governmental Relations at Evergreen, I wanted to briefly introduce myself. I will be working alongside Julie Garver as we advocate on behalf of Evergreen to the legislature and other state agencies. 

As we move through the session check back here for updates from Julie and me on our activities in government relations.

Thank you for letting me be a part of the Geoduck community, I look forward to the work ahead!

-Jane Wall

Trustees Visit Capitol; Attention Moves to the Floor

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As the week progresses members of both chambers have moved their work to their respective floors. The Senate and House have until February 14 to move bills to the opposite chamber. As a result, both floors are full of activity as legislators move bills forward in the process.

While the Legislature changed focus from committee to the floor, higher education introduced some new faces to policymakers this week to advocate for higher education.

Earlier this week trustees and regents from the public two- and four-year sectors traveled to Olympia to meet with legislators.

The trustees and regents met with several senators and representatives throughout much of the day to advocate on behalf of higher education in Washington. In addition the dialogue with legislators provided insight into the context and next steps around both policy and budgets.

 

2012 Supplemental Session: Week 5

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This week the Senate and the House turned their full attention to the fiscal committees. All bills with a fiscal impact must have passed out of their respective fiscal committee by February 7.

Over the last two days the Senate and House Ways & Means Committees have held marathon sessions to move bills forward in the process.  The primary exemption from this being any legislation that is deemed “NTIB” or “Necessary to Implement the Budget”.

Both committees have held public hearings and executive sessions on key bills that will impact higher education. Among the pieces of legislation that the Ways & Means Committees took action on include legislation to provide greater flexibility for institutions of higher education in areas such as procurement and travel and to establish a new state entity focused on higher education.

After February 7 the House and Senate will have until February 14 to bills from their respective floor to the opposite chamber.

House Education Appropriations Wraps Up Work

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This morning the House Education Appropriations & Oversight Committee held the last public hearing and work session before the House deadline tomorrow – February 3.

Among the bills heard this morning was legislation to encourage the public baccalaureate institutions to design innovative approaches to increase the number of resident students gaining baccalaureate degrees and a bill to require institutions of higher education that already offer early registration to a certain population of students, to offer early registration to students who are eligible veterans or National Guard members.

The Committee followed the public hearing with a work session in which the Committee took action on several bills. Among the bills that will impact higher education is legislation focused on innovation at higher education, early registration for veterans at institutions for higher education, and flexibility with regard to regulations for Washington’s public baccalaureate institutions and community and technical colleges.

More and More Bills

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The Washington House and Senate continue to steadily move through bills as deadlines pass and new deadlines near. 

Washington House

In the House the deadline to move policy bills from commitee and to either an appropriation committee or the House floor passed yesterday (January 31). With the passage of this deadline the House has refocused on the appropriation committees in preparation for the next deadline. On February 7, bills, unless necessary to implement the budget, must have moved out of the fiscal committees to the floor.

House Education Appropriations & Oversight Committee

This morning the House Education Appropriations & Oversight Committee held a public hearing on a handful of bills. 

Among the bills heard this morning was legislation to provide greater flexibility to Washington’s institutions of higher education – both two- and four-year public institutions. The bill would enact a handful of changes to the business-side of the house at institutions of higher education.

The public baccalaureate institutions and community and technical colleges testified in support of the legislation. Both sectors highlighted the opportunity this bill would provide to institutions to maintain a focus on the mission of their institutions to educate students at a time of limited resources and further state funding reductions.  The Governor’s Office expressed concerns about the need to align the bill with efficiencies in higher education.

Washington Senate

The Senate has a few more days before the first deadline of the session is met. All Senate bills must have moved from their respective policy committee by end of day on February 3.

Senate Higher Education & Workforce Development

As the Friday deadline nears, the Senate Higher Education & Workforce Development Committee met this afternoon. The Committee held a public hearing on legislation that specifies that the State Archives, to insure the maintenance of security and preservation standards and to promote efficiency and access consistent with the requirements of this chapter, must authorize  the operation or lease of an archive, records center, records warehouse, or records storage facility. In addition  any state agency with an archives, records center, records warehouse, or records storage facility must transfer the records to the state archives by July 1, 2013.

Evergreen, along with the University of Washington, testified with concerns with regard to the potential costs of requiring institutions to transfer records to the state archives. In addition Evergreen expressed concern about the potential negative impact on the College’s  current digital archive program.

Following the public hearing the Committee took action on several bills previously heard this session. Among the bills the Committee passed included legislation to establish a new state level entity for higher education, create financial literacy options for postsecondary education students, and provide for regulatory flexibility for institutions of higher education.

Committees Continue to Work to Move Bills

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Policy committees in both the House and Senate continued their work to move bills forward in the process. Today marks the last day for House policy bills to move out of committee followed by a February 3 deadline in the Senate.

This morning kicked-off with dualing committees in the House. The House Capital Budget Committee held a public hearing on legislation that would provide increased flexibility around minor works and predesign requirements for institutions of higher education. The Council of Presidents, which represents the six public baccalaureate institutions in Washington, testified in support of the bill. The Committee followed the public hearing with an executive session in which the bill was passed by the committee and moved forward in the process.

At the same time the House Education Appropriations & Oversight Committee held a public hearing on legislation that requires a model policy for open licensing of courseware developed with state funds at higher education institutions.  Higher education institutions, students, faculty, and others, while supportive of the intent of the legislation, expressed concerns about the scope of the legislation, the impact on innovation, and lack of resources -both fiscal and personnel – to undertake this initiative. In addition representatives from higher education testified to the work already being done at institutions to provide for low-cost textbook options for students and highlighted other successful programs across the nation that might serve as models for the development of such an effort in Washington.

In the Senate, the Senate Higher Education & Workforce Development held a marathon public hearing on legislation ranging from developing an open courseware policy at insitutions of higher education to creating a database of services provided to students with disabilities at institutions of higher education to putting into law that athletics not receive any state funding at WSU and UW.

Details Emerge About Obama’s Blueprint for Higher Education

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Late last week, several days after President Obama announced new proposed federal policies focused on the availability of affordable quality higher education, details  emerged about how the Obama Administration would go about achieving this goal.

In his State of the Union address, President Obama called for a comprehensive approach to tackling rising college costs. In a speech at the University of Michigan President Obama provided additional details about the framework by which he will work with Congress to establish a set of policies focused on increasing post-secondary education opportunities in the U.S.

The proposal put forth by the President would include several components.

  • Reform student aid to promote affordability and value: To keep tuition from spiraling too high and drive greater value, the President will propose reforms to federal campus-based air programs to shift aid away from colleges that fail to keep net tuition down, and toward those colleges and universities that do their fair share to keep tuition affordable, provide good value, and serve needy students well. These changes in federal aid to campuses will leverage $10 billion annually to keep tuition down. The President’s plan calls for shared responsibility between the federal government, states, and institutions of higher education to tackle rising college costs by  improving the distribution of federal financial aid and increase campus-based aid. This reform will reward colleges that are succeeding in meeting the following principles:
      • Setting responsible tuition policy, offering relatively lower net tuition prices and/or restraining tuition growth.
      • Providing good value to students and families, offering quality education and training that prepares graduates to obtain employment and repay their loans.
      • Serving low-income students, enrolling and graduating relatively higher numbers of Pell-eligible students.

In his proposal the President is proposing to change how funds for the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (SEOGs), Perkins Loans, and Work Study are distributed by implementing an improved formula that shifts aid from schools with rising tuition to those acting responsibly, focused on setting responsible tuition policy, providing good value in education, and ensuring that higher numbers of low-income students complete their education. He is also proposing to increase the amount of campus-based aid to $10 billion annually. The increase is primarily driven by an expansion of loans in the federal Perkins program – which comes at no additional taxpayer cost.

Under his plan colleges that can show that they are providing students with good long-term value will be rewarded with additional dollars to help students attend. Those that show poor value, or who don’t act responsibly in setting tuition, will receive less federal campus-based aid.  Students will receive the greatest government grant and loan support at colleges where they are likely to be best served, and little or no campus aid will flow to colleges that fail to meet affordability and value standards.

 

  • Create a Race to the Top for college affordability and completion: The president will create incentives for states and colleges to keep costs under control through a $1billion investment in a new challenge to states to spur higher education reform focused on affordability and improved outcomes across state colleges and universities. The Race to the Top: College Affordability and Completion will reward states who are willing to drive systemic change in their higher education policies and practices, while doing more to contain their tuition and make it easier for students to earn a college degree.The President is proposing a program that would spur systemic state reforms to reduce costs for students and promote success in our higher education system at public colleges. This $1 billion investment would incentivize states to: (1) Revamp the structure of state financing for higher education; (2) Align entry and exit standards with K-12 education and colleges to facilitate on-time completion; and (3) Maintain adequate levels of funding for higher education in order to address important long-term causes of cost growth at the public institutions that serve two-thirds of four-year college students. The intention is that the Race to the Top for College Affordability and Completion would incentivize governors and state legislatures around the nation to act on spurring this innovative reform. Through cost-saving measures like redesigning courses and making better use of education technology, institutions can keep costs down to provide greater affordability for students.

 

  • A first in the World competition to model innovation and quality on college campuses: The president will invest $55 million in a new First in the World competition, to support the public and private colleges and non-profit organizations as they work to develop and test the next breakthrough strategy that will boost higher education attainment and student outcomes. The new program will also help scale-up those innovative and effective practices that have been proven to boost productivity and enhance teaching and learning on college campuses.  This initiative would provide modest start-up funding for individual colleges, including private colleges, for projects that could lead to longer-term and larger productivity improvements among colleges and universities – such as course redesign through the improved use of technology, early college preparation activities to lessen the need for remediation, competency-based approaches to gaining college credit, and other ideas aimed at spurring changes in the culture of higher education.

 

  • Better data for families choose the right college for them: The president will call for a College Scorecard for all degree-granting institutions, designed to provide the essential information about college costs, graduation rates, and potential earnings, all in an easy-to-read format that will help students and families choose a college that is well suited to their needs, priced affordably and consistent with their career and educational goals. The Administration will create a College Scorecard for all degree-granting institutions making it easier for students and families to choose a college that is best suited to their needs, priced affordably, and consistent with their career and educational goals.  The administration will also make an updated version of the ‘Financial Aid Shopping Sheet,’ announced in October, a required template for all colleges, rather than a voluntary tool, to make it easier for families to compare college financial aid packages. Finally, the President is also proposing to begin collecting earnings and employment information for colleges, so that students can have an even better sense of the post post-graduation outcomes they can expect.

 

  • Federal Support to Tackle College Costs In his State of the Union, President Obama called on Congress to: (1) Keep student loan interest rates low. This summer, the interest rates on subsidized Stafford student loans are set to double from 3.4% to 6.8% – a significant burden at a time when the economy is still fragile and students are taking on increasing amounts of debt to earn a degree. The President is asking Congress to prevent that hike from taking place for a year to keep student debt down, a proposal that will keep interest rates low for 7.4 million student loan borrowers and save the average student over a thousand dollars; (2) Double the number of work-study jobs available:  The President also proposes to double the number of career-related work-study opportunities so that students are able to gain valuable work-related experience while in school; and (3) Maintain our commitment to college affordability: Over 9 million students and families per year take advantage of the Obama Administration’s American Opportunity Tax Credit – supporting up to $10,000 over four years of college.  In his State of the Union address, the President called on Congress to make this tax credit permanent and prevent it from expiring in 2012.

Though many within higher education support the President’s intentions to provide access to an affordable quality education, many are concerned that the lack of recognition regarding the dramatic decline in funding at the state and local levels and the need for flexibility to manage these unprecedented time within the President’s framework may lead to greater harm than good.

House Higher Education Committee Holds Last Meeting As Deadlines Pass

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This afternoon the House Higher Education Committee held its last session prior to the first deadlines of the supplemental session. Tomorrow, January 31, marks the deadline for all House policy bills to have moved from committee to either the floor of their respective chambers or to an appropriation committee.

The Committee held a public hearing on House Bill 2717. The bill focuses on innovation at Washington’s higher education institutions. The bill encourages the public baccalaureate institutions to design innovative approaches to increase the number of resident students gaining baccalaureate degrees or further updating their academic credentials with a focus on high-growth sectors of the economy. In addition, the bill encourages the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) to charter a consortium of volunteer community and technical colleges to design innovative approaches to rapidly and substantially increase the cost-effective delivery of developmental and remedial education, and test these innovations in pilot projects where possible.

The public baccalaureate institutions testified in support of the intention of the bill and shared the innovative activities going on at all of the campuses of the bill but expressed concerns about additional reporting requirements and the lack of state resources for higher education.

The Committee followed the public hearing with an executive session in which three bills were moved forward in the process. Among the bills moved along was House Bill 2717 heard earlier in the day, legislation to enable the opportunity for early registration for veterans, and a bill that would establish a new state higher education entity.