This week committees hear Governor’s budget proposal

Legislative scene

Tuition, financial aid and faculty salaries are at the forefront of legislative discussions in Olympia as the Governor’s budget is being heard in committee meetings.

“Higher education is of great interest to people down here this year—it is definitely on people’s minds,” said Sherry Burkey, UW associate vice president for University Relations and director of Government “Legislators are talking about how to do better for higher education than what the Governor’s budget provides.”

The Governor’s budget proposes a 2 percent salary increase for faculty, professional staff and librarians per year for a total of 4 percent over the biennium— the University’s salary request, in conjunction with the state’s other five public four-year schools, was a 4.5 percent increase per year. Locke also includes a $4 million recruitment and retention pool for all the state’s public, four-year higher education institutions (the UW would receive $1.85 million)—the coordinated budget request for all six four-year schools was $8 million. Locke’s budget falls short of the UW’s request in both areas, but allows for flexibility with other resources—such as tuition, local funds and internal reallocation—that could be used for salaries.

Last week, the Governor’s budget proposal was heard in a joint meeting of the House and Senate Higher Education Committees. Each school was given an opportunity to respond to the budget and other higher education issues. Burkey and JoAnn Taricani, UW Faculty Senate Legislative Representative, testified before both committees emphasizing the need for fully funded enrollments, an increase in state general fund monies allocated for faculty salaries and/or more flexibility to use tuition revenue and internal resources to solve the problem of faculty retention before the quality of the institution erodes. “The Governor’s budget includes a 2 per cent raise for each year, and if that is the total funding allocated to salary increases, the State of Washington will have a very different University of Washington in a few years,” Taricani remarked in her testimony.

Governor Locke funds 1,303 fulltime equivalent student enrollments (FTE) for the UW; 738 FTEs at the Seattle campus, 242 FTEs at UW Bothell, and 324 FTEs at UW Tacoma. The enrollments at both the Bothell and Tacoma campuses were fully funded in the proposal, but the Seattle enrollments were funded at the marginal rate. His total recommended budget for the UW is a 9.8 percent increase from last biennium and does not recommend any cuts to the current UW budget.

Tuition-setting authority would be given to the governing boards of each institution under Locke’s proposal with a limit of 5 percent per year for in-state undergraduates and a maximum of 20 percent per year for out-of-state students and graduate and professional students. It would also eliminate the floor for tuition rates so that Regents could actually lower tuition if necessary. Tuition revenue could be used to address institutional needs such as salary increases, recruitment and retention problems and investments in technology training.

“We appreciate Governor Locke’s recognition that there needs to be other funding options if there are limits on what the state general fund can provide,” said Kevin Evanto, associate director of Government Relations and Alumni Outreach, “and we will continue to make the case for more state funding for faculty salaries.”

A variety of tuition options were discussed last week in Olympia and on the UW campus including the Governor’s
5 percent proposal and a $50/quarter increase in both years of the biennium. All six four-year schools have developed a set of tuition principles through the Council of Presidents Office confirming the need for tuition flexibility if state general funding does not meet minimum requirements for maintaining the quality of each institution. The UW Board of Regents adopted a set of tuition principles at its Jan. 15 meeting endorsing the Council of Presidents agreement and emphasizing the need to close the gap between the UW and its peer institutions in funding per student and in salaries. (See the full text of the Regents’ tuition principles below.) The Regents made three additional comments: the state Legislature should provide sufficient core funding through appropriations; the Regents recognize that students have been taking on an increasing share of the cost of education and that raising tuition is not a long-term solution to the UW’s long-term funding needs; and that financial aid be considered in parallel with changes in tuition. The Regents’ acknowledged the need to increase tuition if the UW does not receive sufficient state general fund allocations, but also discussed the importance of providing sufficient financial aid to maintain accessibility for needy students.

Also in keeping with the 2020 Commission recommendations, Governor Locke proposes funding for the Washington Promise Scholarships which would provide a two-year scholarship—a total of $3,000—for about 7,200 high school students from low and middle income families in the next biennium. In the initial stages of the program, scholarships would be provided for the top 15 percent of graduating classes from 1999­2002. The money could be used for two years at a community college or applied to tuition at any of the state’s public or private four-year institutions.

Higher education technology funding in Locke’s proposal includes: $4.2 million allocated for all the state’s post-secondary institutions to maintain and expand their connections to the K-20 Network and $1.5 million to create the Washington Online College, which would serve as a hub of information for students who want to pursue their education “online”. His technology funding recommendations for the UW include $3.95 million to fund the next stage of construction and operation of the next generation internet hub (gigapop), and $3 million to continue Internet service upon which the entire Pacific Northwest relies. The Governor’s budget did not provide funding for the Advanced Technology Initiative (the UW/WSU proposal creating faculty clusters in fast-growing, innovative technological fields encouraging economic growth in the state) and money for experiential learning intiatives.

The Governor’s capital budget recommends funding for the Law School Building, UW Bothell Phase 2A and UW Tacoma Phase 2A, Nuclear Reactor Decommissioning and the Health Sciences BB Tower Elevators. No funding was provided for the Suzzallo Library Renovation or the design of the Life Sciences I Building. Noted in the capital budget is a requirement that each institution of higher education prepare a study of student enrollment capacity (including space utilization practices, scheduling and distance learning opportunities) and submit it to the HEC Board and the Office of Financial Management by May 1, 2000, then work with the HEC Board to prepare plans to maximize FTE capacity. The goal of these plans is to substantially increase FTE delivery capacity.

This week the UW capital budget will be heard by the House Capital Budget Committee. ¶

Peggy O’Boyle Fine, Government Relations