Public research universities like the UW are essential engines for social mobility and prosperity, especially for first generation students. If, as a society, we fail to make the investments needed to keep them strong, we endanger progress, prosperity and innovation not just for the individuals who attend, but for their communities, states and our nation.
Category: State Budget
Update from Olympia
State policymakers are in the second week of their 60-day legislative session, and this week I traveled to Olympia to meet with them. While not my first trip to Olympia, this was a special visit, as it was my first as President. My goal was both to thank our elected leaders for the significant support they provided to the University of Washington and higher education last year, and to advocate for our 2016 legislative priorities.
Last year, for the first time in modern memory, the Legislature and Governor joined together to reduce tuition at the UW, as well as Washington’s public universities and community and technical colleges. And, just as important, we were able to advocate successfully to ensure that the reduction not jeopardize the quality of our students’ education. Lawmakers pledged to keep the universities and colleges whole by replacing the reduced revenue with substantial new public investment. Our efforts in this year’s session are focused on ensuring legislators keep that pledge.
While the 2016 session is not a primary budget-writing year, we are not letting up. I am making clear in my conversations with policymakers that in the next budget-writing session of the Legislature, we will be seeking an investment in excellence, with an emphasis on accelerating progress on improving faculty compensation. I will continue to emphasize that it is faculty that make us excellent through their teaching and their scholarship, and we need the Legislature to focus on both access and excellence. We can’t have one at the expense of the other.
The challenges confronting our leaders in Olympia are many, but I’m proud to say they are not alone in this tremendously important work. Faculty colleagues are working with the Governor and Legislature to find solutions to today’s major challenges. A sampling of issues they are working on includes gun violence and suicide prevention, impacts of climate change,remedying causes of wrongful conviction, marijuana research and clean energy, just to name a few. Our students across all three campuses benefit from involvement in these research experiences as well as internships in legislative offices and real-world experiences in public service.
All of these efforts help bring the UW’s multitude of contributions to life in tangible, meaningful ways, and I thank you for the time you take to share your expertise with policymakers. Together we can be more than just a resource — we can be a force for good in our community, our state and our world.
You can get updates from Olympia and find ways to get involved through the UW’s Faculty Legislative Representative JoAnn Taricani, associate professor of music history, and the UW’s Director of State Relations Genesee Adkins.
For my part, I invite your suggestions about how we can work together to make our case even stronger. I always welcome hearing from you, and thank you for your active engagement in our government and society.
Statement concerning the approved two-year state budget
On behalf of University of Washington students, faculty, staff and alumni, I want to express my thanks and appreciation to our elected officials for making investments in higher education a true state budget priority during the 2015 legislative session. While the previous budget began to reverse the long-term trend of shifting the burden of paying for college from the state to students and their families, this new spending plan truly recommits the State of Washington to supporting public higher education. This historic tuition reduction is outstanding news for our students and their families, and I applaud the governor and legislators who came together to make this possible.
I also want to thank policymakers for their support of the UW’s efforts to educate the health professionals Washington needs to be healthy and prosperous. The budget agreement enables us not only to continue medical education in Spokane and eastern Washington through WWAMI, but to expand our ability to educate physicians for all of Washington state. I am also grateful for the Legislature’s support for expansion of our computer science program through investments to expand enrollment to help us meet another critical workforce need for the state.
Medical Education in Washington: Do No Harm
Congratulations to Washington State University on the official signing of legislation to seek accreditation for an independent medical school. As they begin the process of seeking accreditation, we at the University of Washington offer our appreciation for more than 40 years of medical education partnership with our colleagues in Pullman and Spokane.
With the passage of WSU’s policy bill, significant decisions remain.
Budget proposals have been released in Olympia, and the prospects for the UW School of Medicine in Spokane are decidedly mixed. The House of Representatives budget provides us with sufficient funding — $4.7 million per year — to pursue the course we set together with Spokane: to continue and expand our four-year medical school. If this budget approach is adopted, the UW will begin to address our doctor shortage immediately and continue to serve Spokane students and the physician workforce needs of the state for years to come.
The Senate budget, unfortunately, defunds our current efforts in Spokane — likely eliminating operations and taking expansion off the table. Only $1.25 million in annual funding is provided to the UW for our Spokane medical school, well below the House funding level of $4.7 million per year. Put simply, if the Senate budget is adopted, our medical school in Spokane is in serious jeopardy. We will be forced to reduce our Washington student class size or transfer some students back to the Seattle campus for first and second year training. We would consider this a tremendous setback for our students, for the community of Spokane and the state of Washington.
We will be working hard over the next several weeks with our community supporters in Spokane and around the state to inform the legislature and the Governor about what is at stake in this year’s biennial budget proposal. We need doctors now, and the UW School of Medicine is ready to provide them.
On April 15, I will come to Spokane to join the community in celebrating the UW’s newest Spokane medical students. It’s imperative that we keep their education and success our highest priority.
Our momentum to expand medical research, education and access in eastern Washington is palpable, and we will accelerate our vision for the UW School of Medicine in Spokane with your continued support.
I invite you to keep up with our progress at uw.edu/spokanemedschool.
Sincerely,
Ana Mari Cauce
Interim President
Professor of Psychology and American Ethnic Studies
Statement on proposed Senate budget
While I am very pleased to see that the Senate budget not only provides most of the state funding needed to pay for its tuition reduction bill, and makes additional investments for the next biennium, there are some troubling aspects to the proposal. Rejection of our collective bargaining agreements means that thousands of our employees will not receive the wage increases they deserve. There are other troubling aspects to the proposal as well, including provisions dealing with health care benefits.
I am also disappointed in the Senate’s approach to funding our medical school in Spokane. The $2.5 million appropriation is insufficient to support our existing 40 students much less increasing enrollment by another 20 students as we hope to do this fall to address the physician shortage in our state.
Ana Mari Cauce
Interim President
Professor of Psychology and American Ethnic Studies
Statement on proposed House budget
I am pleased to see that the Washington state House budget begins the critical work of reinvesting in higher education for the benefit of our students and our state. The new funding for faculty and staff compensation, computer science enrollment expansion and medical residencies is critically important. The proposed budget in its entirety, however, may not be sufficient to keep tuition affordable and to fulfill our public commitment to deliver the innovations, discoveries, products and talented young people that our region needs. We must be about both access and excellence, and we will continue to stress that a robust state investment is critical.
We are also extremely pleased that the House budget proposal recognizes the critical importance of keeping the UW’s No. 1–ranked primary-care program in Spokane and of increasing our enrollment from 40 to 60 students per year. The transfer of $4.7 million in dedicated funding for our medical school from Washington State University to the UW will ensure that we can maintain and grow our medical education program to meet the critical physician workforce needs of the state.
Ana Mari Cauce
Interim President
Professor of Psychology and American Ethnic Studies
Thoughts on the Legislative session
Going into the legislative session, one of our primary goals was to protect the state funding increase the Legislature provided last session for the 2013–15 biennium. Our funding was largely protected, with some small but important additional investments in key areas, a $1 million permanent allocation to fund core laboratory expenses in our Institute for Protein Design, and one-time funding of $400,000 to examine the feasibility of bringing legal education back to Tacoma at the UW Tacoma campus. We were also able to protect current ongoing projects funded by the state’s Life Sciences Discovery Fund, though the program itself is slated to be eliminated after the current contracts have ended.
Preserving funding in our budget at its current level importantly enables us to keep resident undergraduate tuition at its current rate and for the second year in a row with no tuition increase while moving forward on reinvestments in compensation and academic services.
Other important legislation affecting education that we strongly supported included the passage of the Real Hope Act, which for the first time makes state financial aid available to low-income undocumented students who were brought to this country by their parents and have grown up here. This exceptional pool of talented students will now have—as the name of the legislation suggests—real hope to become even greater contributors to our community and world.
Also important to note was the Legislature’s passage of a higher education efficiencies bill. The bill provides our state colleges and universities with additional flexibility in several administrative areas, allowing us to operate more effectively and efficiently. It is estimated to save the University of Washington more than $700,000 annually.
Many thanks to all our dedicated students, faculty, staff and alumni across all three campuses who stayed active and engaged on behalf of the UW during this legislative session. I visited Olympia multiple times over the course of 60 days, and each time I witnessed the positive impact of your hard work and advocacy on behalf of the University.
Also, I want to give special acknowledgment to our UW ’14 class of legislative interns (shown below). It was a privilege to meet and get to know you. I appreciate your commitment to public service and wish you well as you complete your UW studies!
President Young’s statement on the proposed state budget
The proposed state operating budget agreement represents a significant step forward, not only for University of Washington students, faculty, staff and their families – but also for the state of Washington.
For the first time in over two decades, state reinvestment in this budget agreement will allow the UW to hold resident undergraduate tuition rates at their current levels without compromising the extraordinary quality of students’ educations. In addition, new investments in engineering and computer science will expand access to critical programs for qualified students, creating an expanded talent pipeline for the 25,000 high demand job opportunities currently available in our state.
Budget negotiators are to be commended for their vision in making these essential investments in Washington’s economy and future leaders. Furthermore, we are grateful for the strong commitment and unyielding efforts of our incredible advocates, including the steadfast UW community, engaged alumni, dedicated partners in the business community, and broad-based newspaper editorial support. I am optimistic the investments in this budget are a sign of renewed focus and investment in higher education in Washington state.
2013-15 State Budget expectations
Dear Faculty and Staff:
With the Legislature now in its second special session trying to come to an agreement on a state budget for 2013-15, a number of questions are being raised about the unlikely—though theoretically possible—situation that the state could begin the new biennium on July 1 without a budget and without monies appropriated to spend on various programs. Such a circumstance would be unprecedented. I understand in the early 1990s it took until late June for the Legislature to adopt a budget and that was as close to the start of a new biennium as it had ever come.
At this point, there are more questions than answers, and we do not yet have clear direction or information from the state Office of Financial Management about impacts to the University absent an approved budget. I can tell you that the Governor and his administration are looking into this, with assistance from the State Attorney General’s office. We, along with other state agencies, have been asked for information about our programs, including those funded by state appropriations and those mandated either by federal or state law. State-funded programs comprise only about three percent of our total budget, albeit a crucial and important three percent. It is our expectation that programs funded from other sources, such as federal funds, tuition, or self-sustaining revenues will not be affected by what is occurring with regard to state appropriations. We believe summer quarter will not be impacted, and instructional programs and classes will start as scheduled June 24. Our deans and vice presidents are working closely with our Office of Planning and Budgeting to ensure that we are prepared both to move quickly if a state budget is adopted prior to July 1 and to manage any contingencies should legislators not make the deadline. More information should be available to us in the coming weeks.
It is everyone’s hope—and expectation—that the Legislature will adopt a budget and not force the state into uncharted waters regarding its financing. As the state formulates answers and contingency plans in the eventuality of reaching July 1 without a budget, we will keep you informed. At this point, we continue to encourage legislators to complete their work on the budget by June 30 and are in close touch with officials in Olympia.
Sincerely,
Michael K. Young
UW President Michael Young comments on House Democrat budget proposal
Statement from University of Washington Michael K. Young on House Democrat budget proposal:
“Today’s House budget proposal lacks significant, new state investment in public higher education. Washington ranks second to last in the nation — 49th — in higher education funding per student, with 25,000 jobs in high demand industries awaiting graduates we do not have the funding to educate. If we are to compete in the 21st century economy, we can and must do better.
“In the absence of significant, new state investment, we appreciate this budget allows for modest tuition increases, which will be necessary to preserve student access to a high quality education. If we want to keep tuition increases low, the state must adequately reinvest in our students and public higher education.
“There is much more work to be done as budget negotiations progress, and I look forward to working with the House, Senate, and Governor on getting this right.”