“By the year 2020, our post-secondary education system will need to serve over 100,000 more learners than it served in 1998,” the commission wrote in its report. “This 50 percent growth will be driven not just by demographics, but also by the advent of a knowledge-based economy in which good jobs require higher levels of skill and knowledge than ever before. And it will be driven by the higher hopes and the academic expectations and abilities of young people who have benefited from this state’s relentless focus on high standards in public schools.

“We must begin preparing for this explosion in demand for post-secondary education now. In the next 10 years, the number of high school graduates knocking on the doors of our post-secondary institutions will increase as the “baby-boom echo” grows up. Urgent new demands will swell our post-secondary education system as growing numbers of adults return to the classroom to adapt their skills to a changing economy, to change careers, or to fulfill dreams deferred when they were younger.”

“To achieve a higher level of learning for a growing population without crippling other vital programs, we need to clarify our priorities, create new partnerships, and design organizational structures that promote innovation,” the commission report said. “We need to give our post-secondary institutions the tools and incentives they need to improve efficiency and to reduce costs. And we need to increase new capacity to serve both recent high school graduates and older adults.”

UW Regent Daniel J. Evans, who served on the 2020 Commission, noted how remarkable it was that no minority report was issued by any commission members. “It is an unusual demonstration of unity among a diverse group of independently minded individuals on a subject of such broad civic importance,” Evans said. “This indicates how strongly commission members support the recommendations.”

Other Regents also expressed support for the commission report, particularly its emphasis on the need for steady, reliable funding and its understanding that sole reliance on distance learning technologies would not reduce costs in comparison to traditional educational methods.

“This report advances a farsighted agenda for higher education in our state, especially the need to serve thousands of additional students with quality academic programs preparing them for the future,” said UW President Richard L. McCormick. “It also advocates significant new investments in higher education.”

Creighton and Craves have urged the governor to incorporate the commission recommendations into the state’s budget.

The commission recommendations are:

1. Increase the capacity of the post-secondary education system so that by the year 2020, all Washington residents who want to learn will have access to the education or training appropriate to their aspirations and their level of knowledge. To maintain today’s percentage of educational attainment in the face of population increases would require serving 60,000 additional learners by the year 2020. The commission recommended meeting this goal and making room for an additional 40,000 students to raise the level of educational attainment in the state to approximately 100,000 additional learners by 2020.

2. Use all accredited post-secondary education providers to meet the expected surge in demand for post-secondary education. “The Governor should ask the Higher Education Coordinating Board, the Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board and the Office of Financial Management to prepare a 10-year enrollment plan that maps out how we will serve this explosion in demand. In preparing the enrollment plan, proposals should be solicited from administrators of public institutions to stretch capacity by providing evening, weekend, year-round and distance learning opportunities,” according to the commission report.

“Given the immediacy of the increase in demand, the enrollment plan should give priority to strategies that expand capacity without requiring new construction. Priority should also be given to proposals that: a) reduce the cost of delivery by adding capacity at marginal cost, or b) expand programs in high demand/high cost subject areas, subject to the provision of start-up funds. Simultaneously, the state should expedite the build-out of branch campuses that have already been authorized.”

3. Create a scholarship for all students who earn a Certificate of Mastery and graduate from high school. This scholarship should be sufficient to pay tuition for a minimum of two years of post-secondary education. “All students should know that if they work hard and do well in school, in-state post-secondary education will be available to them. Students may use this scholarship throughout the post-secondary education system, public or private, for technical training leading to a skill certificate, or to an academic credential or degree.”

4. Expand and improve the information and counseling available to students and their families, so that they can make better choices about the post-secondary education options available to them.

5. Maintain the base funding of public institutions at or above the average of public per-student funding of peer institutions in other states. “. . .the Commission recommends the establishment of a firm floor of base funding, greater institutional control of both revenues and expenditures, and a system of incentives, above base funding, that offer financial rewards to those institutions that meet specific state policy objectives.”

6. Provide incentive funding above the base to public institutions that propose and achieve improvements in educational quality and/or reduce costs. This funding should be offered in the form of venture capital for institutional initiatives that accomplish specific state policy objectives.

7. Move toward assessing education in terms of what students learn rather than how many hours they spend in class.

8. Create incentives for educators to accelerate student progression through high school and post-secondary education when appropriate.

9. Designate a statewide coordinator who will make distance education easy to use. “The purpose of the coordinator is to achieve maximum cost efficiency for the student and the state by making it easier for Washington students to find and enroll in courses that best meet their needs. The designation of a coordinator does not confer monopoly status; on the contrary, the best interests of Washington students are served by helping them gain access to the widest possible diversity of high-quality course providers. The state coordinator should pursue partnerships with Washington’s high-tech industries to accelerate the development of these opportunities.”

10. Eliminate or amend laws, regulations, and practices that unreasonably restrict institutions’ ability to operate efficiently. “Savings achieved through aggressive management of service delivery should be retained at the institution. The ability to carry savings forward, and to use these savings to enhance educational quality, will act as an incentive for all members of the campus community to identify and develop cost savings strategies.”

11. Grant tuition-setting authority to the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, and to the governing boards of all four-year public post-secondary institutions.

12. Continue innovation and efficiency measures to mitigate the cost of increasing capacity and improving quality.

13. Make post-secondary education a higher priority in the state budget in order to create a system of sufficient size and quality to meet the needs of Washington residents. Provide the resources needed by considering all viable options, including a public referendum adjusting the state spending limit as that becomes necessary. “The need to expand capacity is immediate. The demographic bulge is beginning to graduate from high school now. The economy is demanding more highly skilled workers now. Employers have jobs unfilled now. Adults are interested in expanding their career choices by upgrading their skills and abilities now.”

14. Clarify the division of labor for governing post-secondary education. Review the statutory responsibilities of the Higher Education Coordinating Board and eliminate non-essential functions so that it can focus on its central mission as the statewide planning agency. Strengthen the autonomy and responsibility of the Boards of Regents and Trustees.

15. Establish an independent, non-profit organization to build and sustain public understanding of the need for higher levels of educational attainment and lifelong learning. This groups should be both an independent advocate for post-secondary education, and an organization that urges the system to high standards of accessibility, quality, innovation, efficiency, and responsiveness to the needs of learners.

The 2020 Commission Web site, which includes its full report and appendices, can be reached at http://www.wa.gov/governor/2020/ ¶