Final Election News Will Be Slow; Political Context Taking Shape

Posted on by

Two-days after the 2010 mid-term election ballots are still being counted. It is expected that it will take weeks before a handful of state legislative races or control of the Legislature is decided.

Here is a quick summary of how races are shaping up across the state, based on election results posted on the Secretary of State’s website today. 

Federal
U.S. Senator Patty Murray(51%) is leading former state senator Dino Rossi (49%).  Most election observers believe it will take some time and a possible recount to determine this race.

In the open 3rd Congressional District, State Rep. Jaime Herrera (53%) leads former state legislator Denny Heck (47%). The 3rd Congressional District represents The Evergreen State College.

In the 2nd Congressional District, U.S. Representative Rick Larsen is in a close race with Snohomish County Council Member John Koster. Larsen leads by just over 500 votes.

Of the remaining congressional races, seven of the nine incumbents are clearly returning to Washington D.C. They include: U.S. Representatives Norm Dicks, Richard “Doc” Hastings, Jay Inslee, Jim McDermott, Cathy McMorris-Rodgers, Dave Reichert, and Adam Smith.

Washington Legislature
This January 25 new legislators will arrive in Olympia. At least 21 new House members and 4 new Senate members will join the Washington Legislature.

A smaller gap between the number of majority and minority members in both chambers is likely to mean changes, such as in committee structure.  Republicans  won several seats this election, closing the prior 13 member gap held by the Senate Democrats to five (27 Democrat; 22 Republican) at the time of this blog.

In the House, the Democrats held a 61-37 advantage. All 98 seats were on the November ballot, with 16 open seats. Since Tuesday, the Democrat advantage has been reduced to half, closing the gap to 12 votes (55 Democrats; 43 Republicans) at the time of this blog.

In addition, the loss of current House Ways & Means Committee Chair Kelli Linville as well as races too close to call for House Capital Budget Chair Hans Dunshee and House Education Appropriations Chair Kathy Haigh means possible change with regard to budget committees.

House Democratic leadership also faces changes with the retirement of Majority Leader Lynn Kessler and a race too close to call for current Democratic Caucus Chair Dawn Morrell. Finally, the chair of the House Higher Education Committee did not run nor did the chair and ranking member of the House Education Committee, leaving holes in both of these policy committees.

Budget
The 2011 legislative session is expected to be another difficult fiscal session for all of Washington.  The state faces an immediate budget gap of least $500 million (gap in the 2009-11 biennium) and an estimated $4.5 billion for the 2011-13 biennium. Tough choices are expected with the 2010 tax increases gone and a return to the two-thirds requirment with the passage of I-1053.

What is Next
On November 15, the next revenue forecast is scheduled. The preliminary forecast showed little change from September, but an increase in caseloads is expected.

Between now and the end of December any unknowns regarding the election will be cleared. In addition, information regarding legislative leadership and committee chairs should emerge.

Finally, towards the end of December Governor Gregoire will release her budget. Followed by the beginning of the 2011 legislative regular session on January 10.

Elections Create Some Change

Posted on by

Election results in Washington continue to change one-day after the 2010 mid-term election. 

Several races, at the state and federal levels, remain too close to call, including the U.S. Senate race between Murray and Rossi and several state senate and house races.

Reports state that nearly a third of all votes have yet to be counted in Washington. These votes are expected to be counted as they trickle in via snail mail.

What we do know is that the number of Republicans and Democrats in the Washington Legislature is expected to be much closer than in the prior legislative session. In addition, the majority of initiatives on the ballot are failing with two exceptions. Both I-1053 and I-1107 are passing.

Specific to Evergreen we will likely welcome a new U.S. Representative for the 3rd District, Jaime Herrera as well as  a new state representative, Chris Reykdal. In addition, we will continue to be represented by Rep. Sam Hunt and Sen. Karen Fraser.

Stay tuned for updates!

New Federal Regulations for Higher Education Expected

Posted on by

This week, the Obama Administration is expected to release new finalized regulations for colleges and universities that participate in federal student aid programs.

The regulations amount to a significant expansion of federal oversight of higher education. The regulations range from efforts to reshape how admissions recruiters are paid to how course credits are defined to how career training programs are launched.

A hotly debated fourteenth proposal, known to many as the “gainful employment” regulation is still pending and expected to be resolved in early 2011. The “gainful employment” regulation would force for-profit colleges and others that offer non-degree vocational programs to meet new standards related to student debt to qualify for federal aid.

A list was released Wednesday of forty groups and institutions that had either met or will meet with the U.S. Department of Education in the coming weeks to discuss their comments on the gainful employment metrics.

In the works for over a year, the thirteen regulations were circulated among lawmakers yesterday. The rules will take effect July 1, 2011.

Preliminary Economic Forecast Suggests More of the Same

Posted on by

This morning the Washington Economic and Revenue Forecast Council issued a preliminary November economic forecast.

The forecast shows no change in the near term from the September forecast. The preliminary report, however, does show a slight weakening for 2012 and 2013, reflecting a weaker national economic tide.

Arun Raha, Washington’s State Economist, pointed again to public sector job cuts. He noted that the 1,000 jobs created in the private sector in September were swallowed up by the 3,500 jobs that were eliminated in the public sector.

The Council is scheduled to adopt a new quarterly economic forecast on Nov. 5. That will help drive the forecast of state tax collections the Council will adopt on Nov. 18. Assumptions provided in that forecast will be used by the governor as a basis for the operating budget proposal she’ll announce in December.

The Legislature will then convene in January to begin work on one last re-write of the budget for the current two-year budget cycle and then draw up a budget for the next cycle that begins July 1.

Transparency in Higher Education Data Focus of Legislative Hearing

Posted on by

On Wednesday, the members of the Washington Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee were presented with a preliminary report on the transparency in higher education data.

The preliminary report  found that comparable revenue, expenditure and performance information is currently available for each of the six public four-year institutions. However,    work is needed in order to understand how revenues, expenditures and performance influence one another.

Though the preliminary report found no statutory compliance issues, suggestions were made related to improving comparability and transparency of data should the Legislature want to create a more transparent and comparable system of higher education data.

  • Program expenditure categories and definitions are old and may be outdated. The report suggests the Washington Office of Financial Management (OFM), with input from the Legislature, should review the categories and definitions.
  • OFM no longer maintains program categories and definitions and does not review for consistency in expenditure reporting. The report suggests the Legislature should direct OFM to maintain categories and definitions and review expenditure reporting.
  • Nonappropriated/nonallotted funds are not typically included in Legislative Evaluation & Accountability Program (LEAP) fiscal reports. The report suggests LEAP should develop an option for including these funds on higher education fiscal reports.
  • It is not currently possible to see how much revenue is generated from different types of student fees and how each type of fee revenue is spent. The report suggests the Legislature should identify which fees it wants to track separately and then establish separate funds for those fees.
  •  The institutions are not depositing all revenues from the same sources into the same accounts (e.g., student fees). The report suggests the Legislature should develop more specific statutes on which revenues should be deposited in which funds.

Beyond these suggestions, the preliminary report offers two recommendations.

  • OFM should correct its Fund Reference Manual to comply with statute. Currently, statute (RCW 28B.15.031) directs that operating fees be deposited in a local account containing only operating fees revenue and related interest. The institutions use Fund 149(Operating Fees) for this purpose. However, OFM’s Fund Reference manual has a broader definition of Fund 149.
  • Central Washington University, the University of Washington, Washington State University, and Western Washington University should comply with statute to correctly disclose the amount of state support their students receive. Currently, statute (RCW 28B.76.300) mandates that institutions report to students on the amount of state support that students are receiving. However, some institutions did not provide accurate and/or complete reporting to students.

The final report will be presented to members of the Committee on December 1. The four-year baccaluareate institutions and state agencies involved with the report will have an opportunity to present formal responses regarding the findings to the Committee at this time.

Evergreen and Other Public Baccalaureates Talk Budget in Spokane

Posted on by

Yesterday, President Purce, The Evergreen State College, and the presidents of the other five public baccalaureate institutions presented to the Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB) an overview of their institutional budget requests for the 2011-13 biennium in Spokane.

All of the presentations focused on the impacts of state funding reductions on students, faculty, and the institutions and what is at risk as a result. This included conversations regarding reductions taken over the 2009-11 biennium, the recent across-the-board reduction fo 6.3%, and the Governor’s proposed 10% reduction for 2011-13. 

State law requires the HECB to “review, evaluate and make recommendations” on the operating and capital budget requests of the public colleges and universities.  The HECB is scheduled to adopt a set of budget recommendations in November and will then forward them to the state Office of Financial Management, which will use them to help prepare the Governor’s biennial budget proposal to the Legislature.

Governor’s Association Names Advisory Group for Accountability Initiative

Posted on by

The National Governor’s Association (NGA) recently announced the members of the Complete to Compete National Advisory Group.

Complete to Compete is a yearlong initiative, developed by the current NGA Chair Governor Manchin (WV), focused on increasing the number of students in the U.S. who complete college degrees and certificates and improving the productivity of the country’s higher education institutions.

The members of the Advisory Group include:

Charlie Earl- Executive Director, Washington State Board for Community & Technical Colleges
Fred DuVal – Vice Chair, Arizona Board of Regents
Roger Ferguson, Jr. – President/CEO, TIAA-CREF
Juliet Garcia, President, Universit of Texas at Brownsville & Texas Southmost College
Bill Green, Chairman/CEO, Accenture
Brian Noland, Chancellor, West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission
Charlie Reed, Chancellor, The California State University
Eduardo Padron, President, Miami Dade College
Eric Smith, Commissioner, Florida Department of Education
Nancy Zimpher, Chancellor, State University of New York

Obama Promotes Making Permanent New Education Tax Credit

Posted on by

The Obama Administration is publicly supporting making permanent a temporary tax credit for higher education. 

The American Opportunity Tax Credit, due to expire at the end of this year, expanded the existing Hope Credit to more Americans and covers a greater range of items, including computers and textbooks.

The tax credit was passed by Congress as parent of the stimulus bill.

Washington State Agency Responses to Recent Across-The-Board Cuts

Posted on by

This week the Washington Office of Financial Management released a website that provides information regarding the impact of the recent mandated 6.3% reduction for all state agencies.

The website offers inforamtion regarding what agencies are impacted and how across-the-board reductions are defined. In addition, the website provides a list of state agencies and details of each agency’s response plan. Some agencies have yet to submit their plans.

These plans will remain in effect until the Legislature approves a new supplemental budget during the 2011 legislative session.

Pell Funding by Congressional District

Posted on by

Yesterday the U.S. House Committee on Education & Labor releasd a list of Pell Grant awards by Congressional district.  The list includes figures for the total Pell Grant amount received as well as the number of recipients who report that district as their residence.

In Washington, the Third Congressional District, which represents The Evergreen State College, ranked second highest in the state for recipients of the Pell Grant (19,414) for AY 2009-2010. TheFifth Congressional District leads the state with 21,372 Pell recipients.

The Fifth Congressional District encompasses the Eastern Washington counties of  Okanogan, Ferry, Stevens, Pend Oreille, Lincoln, Spokane, Adams, Whitman, Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin.

The information is based on AY 2008-09 and AY 2009-2010 data from the U.S. Department of Education.  AY 2009-2010 grant information is estimated.