Faced with the third year in a row of big budget cuts, Washington’s higher education institutions could start admitting fewer state residents, according to testimony at the Senate Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee on Jan. 19. Read the entire post from the Tacoma News Tribune.
Category: State Budget
Plight of public higher education discussed on KING-TV
“Up Front,” a weekly news program on KING-TV, explores the rising cost of public higher education in Washington. A college degree has never been more important, but the state has less money to spend. So who pays the price?
Higher ed task force makes recommendations
A task force appointed by the governor has recommended that the state’s four-year colleges and universities be allowed to raise tuition to cover costs if necessary to produce more college graduates to meet demand. The task force also recommended creating a scholarship fund with a $1 billion fund-raising goal in the next decade to support low- and middle-income students.
A sampling of news coverage about the task force’s report: Seattle Times | AP/Seattlepi.com | Herald.net (Everett) | Puget Sound Business Journal
Governor unveils budget that would cut $4 billion
On Wednesday morning, Gov. Gregoire unveiled a budget that would eliminate many services for the poor and also would make dramatic cuts in education funding. Tuition would increase by 22 percent over two years at the UW, WSU and Western Washington University. But even with the cuts, colleges and universities would experience $220 million in cuts.
The governor outlines her proposals in a 40-page document.
Local news coverage: Seattle Times | Associated Press
Legislators cut about $700 million from state budget
Actions taken by the state legislature, meeting Saturday, are expected to trim about $700 million from the state budget deficit for the current fiscal year ending in June 2011. The cuts include $51 million from higher education, including $11.4 million from the UW. The UW cut formalizes action taken by Gov. Gregoire in September when she announced across-the-board reductions and is not a new budget reduction.
The UW’s Office of Planning & Budgeting has prepared this summary.
Gov. Gregoire is expected this week to announce her proposals for cutting at least $4.6 billion from the next two-year budget, which runs through 2013.
Local coverage: Seattle Times.
Lawmakers to convene Saturday
Gov. Chris Gregoire and legislative leaders have decided to convene a special session this Saturday morning. See the governor’s statement about the special session and read her special session proclamation.
Governor calls special session
Gov. Chris Gregoire has called a special session of the Legislature to deal with the budget crisis. A date hasn’t been set, but she said it’ll be before Christmas.
Local news coverage: Seattle Times | SeattlePI.com | KOMONews.com | KING5.com | Q13fox.com
Suzan DelBene named revenue director
In news from Olympia, Gov. Chris Gregoire appointed Suzan DelBene to be the state’s next revenue director. Here’s the news release from the governor’s office. (Opens in a new window.)
Another gloomy state revenue forecast
Officials are now saying the state is expected to take in $1.2 billion less in tax revenue than projected between now and June 2013, according to The Seattle Times. (Read the article.)
Gov. Chris Gregoire said that would mean a loss of $385 million for the current biennium. She added in a prepared statement that “the Legislature will need to act quickly” to address the situation.
According to The Times, Gregoire’s office said she wants to hear from legislative leaders to see if there’s any chance for quick agreement on a solution before deciding on a possible special session.
UW leadership addresses budget issues
In a joint memo, outgoing President Mark Emmert and incoming Interim President Phyllis Wise briefed students, faculty and staff about the worsening condition of the state’s budget. Read their memo, which was posted to the president’s blog.