Office of Planning & Budgeting

December 14, 2011

Higher Education Steering Committee Report Released

Last year, Washington State Senate Bill 5182 abolished the Higher Education Coordinating Board and created a Higher Education Steering Committee to assess the state’s need for a redesigned statewide coordinating agency for education. The 13 person Committee met four times and was chaired by Governor Gregoire, and also included UW President Michael Young.

The Final Report, released today, determined that a statewide education coordinating agency in Washington should be singularly focused on increasing educational attainment (at all levels). The report recommends the creation of an Office of Student Achievement, overseen by a majority citizen Advisory Board. This Office would be responsible for:

  • Setting and monitoring short and long term statewide goals for educational attainment
  • Engaging in strategic planning to meet attainment goals
  • Developing performance plans and incentives
  • Engaging in education system design and coordination
  • Providing educational data, research, and analysis in partnership with the existing Education Research and Data Center (ERDC)
  • Developing budget recommendations into the future
  • Setting minimum college admission requirements
  • Administering programs that provide outreach and education to students to increase educational persistence
  • Addressing issues affecting student retention at major transition points (e.g. high school to college, and two-year to four-year)
  • Administering student financial aid programs
  • Serving as the primary point of contact for public inquiries on higher education

The report presents two options for the focus of the Office of Student Achievement. In Option A, the Office would coordinate among and between all state educational entities at every level. In Option B, the Office would focus directly on coordination between secondary and postsecondary education. Governor Gregoire announced today that she was endorsing the adoption of Option B outlined in the Committee’s Final Report and would present implementation legislation shortly.