Two budgets, different implications for UW

The Senate budget, announced Monday, is likely to move quickly through that chamber, which is controlled by Democrats. The House version is likely to be out next week. Legislators are hoping to conclude their work by the scheduled end of the session, April 24.

The major difference in the budgets is in how they treat general fund and tuition operating funds. The Senate budget contains a cut of $32 million for the UW, which would be offset by a tuition increase for undergraduate residents of 7 percent per year and planned increases for graduate and professional students recently adopted by the Board of Regents. Across all of higher education, the Senate budget cuts almost $90 million, while increasing tuition. “Essentially the Senate budget raises tuition and spends half of that money elsewhere in the state budget,” says Randy Hodgins, director of state relations.

The governor’s budget, in contrast, contains no cuts and allows colleges and universities to retain 100% of all tuition increases including the 5 percent per year increase for resident undergraduates.

The governor’s budget also provides for a total of 700 new enrollments at the UW — 300 for Seattle, and 200 each for Bothell and Tacoma. The Senate budget calls for 1,060 new UW enrollments — 616 in Seattle, 400 at UW Tacoma and 144 at UW Bothell, but those come with a catch. Enrollments at Bothell and Tacoma are funded at the same rate as Seattle in the Senate budget, $5,500 per student, when their actual cost is much closer to $7,000. The governor’s budget fully funds all new enrollments.

With the House budget due out shortly, Hodgins will be spending his time explaining the problems with the Senate budget and trying to get those provisions corrected in the House.

The Senate’s capital budget does provide design money for Savery and Clark halls, and the Playhouse Theater, which are scheduled for renovation in 2007-09. Like the governor’s budget, however, it contains insufficient funds for the remodel of Guggenheim and Architecture halls (note: the final budget bill adopted by the Senate late Wednesday restored some funds for Guggenheim and Architecture). Unlike the governor’s budget, funds were not earmarked for an assembly hall project and for land acquisition at UW Tacoma. Neither the Governor’s budget nor the Senate budget provide funding in 2005-07 for the south campus access project at UW Bothell.

Operations and maintenance support for Phase II of the South Lake Union facilities was included in both budgets at $2.4 million.

The Senate budget would significantly increase funding of the State Need Grant, but that money would come from elimination of the Promise Scholarship program and by supplanting general fund support for the UW and other schools with tuition increases. The governor’s budget did not make substantial changes to state financial aid.

Both the Senate and the governor have fully funded the salary increases that were negotiated in collective bargaining agreements with organized labor, and have also provided 3.2 percent increases in the current year and 1.6 percent increases next year for salaries of faculty and non-represented staff.

In other matters of legislative interest, the bill to create a Life Sciences Discovery Fund (SB 5581) is still alive, as is legislation to expand access to baccalaureate programs in Tacoma and Bothell (HB 1794). Both houses have passed slightly different versions of bills that would change state ethics regulations to make technology transfer from university research easier (SB5811 and HB 1806). A bill to create a Washington Academy of Sciences (SB 5381) has passed the Senate and is in the House. A bill to permit stem cell research (HB 1268) has passed the House and is now in a Senate committee. Bills that would require public buildings to be built to “green” building standards have passed both houses (SB 5509 and HB 1272).

“Most of the bills that were worrisome to the UW and to higher education have died,” Hodgins says, “and most of the legislation that would help higher education is still alive. The notable exception is legislation that would have changed Initiative 200 and permitted affirmative action in higher education admissions, which is dead for this session.”

For more information on activity that relates to the UW in this session of the legislature, visit http://www.washington.edu/about/staterel/.