The
2015 legislative session continues at a breakneck pace. Community and technical
college representatives headed to the Capitol this week to testify on budget
proposals and policy bills affecting higher education. Legislators focused on
college affordability and capital budget needs and continued to consider Gov.
Inslee’s budget proposals.
System capital
budget process discussed in Senate
Jan. 22
— Wayne Doty, SBCTC capital budget
director, discussed the community and technical college system’s capital budget
process during a Senate Ways & Means
Committee work session. Every individual college request is scored and
ranked based on the need for space, condition of existing facilities,
systemwide policy objectives and estimated costs. A single priority list is then
submitted to the Legislature as part of the capital budget request.
Leading up to Doty’s presentation was an overview of the
Bates Technical College Mohler Communications and Technology Center project by Marty Mattes, the college director of
facilities and operations. He detailed the care and attention devoted to manage
the project within the existing appropriation. It is halfway through the
construction phase.
Sen. Judy Warnick,
R- Moses Lake, credited community and technical colleges for reaching agreement
before approaching the Legislature.
“It’s really nice to have the projects scored and ranked
ahead of time so we don’t have to make that decision. So I appreciate what
you’re doing.”
Tuition setting
authority topic of Senate hearing
Jan. 21
— The Senate Ways & Means Committee held a work session on higher
education budget issues, including college tuition-setting authority. Marty Brown, SBCTC executive director,
said the Legislature should set higher education tuition in the budget because tuition
is directly tied to state funding levels. This is already the case for
community and technical colleges; the State Board adopts tuition rates within
caps set by the Legislature.
“We like to think of tuition as part of the whole
affordability question,” Brown said. “We think that unlimited tuition authority
would not be a wise thing for our community and technical college students.”
Brown cautioned committee members that no new state funds
and no tuition increase would amount to a budget cut because of inflation
costs. Additionally, Brown said, Governor
Inslee’s proposal to fund employee salary increases out
of tuition dollars while keeping tuition frozen amounts to an unfunded mandate.
“Tuition increases were a partial backfill to the cuts,”
he said. “It wasn’t in anticipation of future salary increases.”
House members
discuss college affordability
Jan. 21
— Alexandra Minea and Robert Lasker, SBCTC student interns
and representatives of the Washington Community and Technical College Student
Association (WACTCSA), testified before the House Higher Education Committee
during work session portion of the hearing.
The committee held a work session on college
affordability. Minea presented to the committee a profile of community and
technical colleges students and the financial considerations — such as
transportation, food, rent and other personal expenses in addition to tuition
and book costs — they face.
“We believe that affordability is vital for students to
meet their education goals and their career goals,” Minea said. “And community
and technical colleges serve as that access point for higher education for many
students. When they’re focused on their finances, it takes away from their
college experience yet alone all the debt they’ll be in years after
graduation.”
Lasker added his own story to testimony. He told
committee members that even with federal, state and college financial
assistance with money earned from his 17-hour a week job, he’s left with $1,291
for his expenses throughout the quarter after paying for tuition and rent.
“I would like you to consider the plight of the students
when you go to work on this,” he said. “It’s not just the tuition. It’s a whole
package. It’s sleepless nights worrying about how I’m going to pay my bills
this quarter because that’s where I’m at today.”
Capital budget
topic of House hearing
Jan. 20
— Members of the House Capital Budget
Committee heard from community and
technical college representatives on challenges colleges face with Gov.
Inslee’s proposed capital budget. Steve Ward, vice president of finance
and administration at Centralia College, told committee members about
Centralia’s new student services building, set to go out to bid this spring.
Ward said that because of requirements placed on the project by the Legislature
— such as shifting project management costs to the college — represents a $2.4
million cut to the project’s construction budget. Funding at that level would
require Centralia to reduce the scope of the project before it could be bid,
causing delays and leaving less funding.
“I’m asking on behalf of Centralia College and the system
of community and technical colleges that you review our request and see if
there’s not a better way to resolve the budget challenges in the state,” Ward
said.
Wayne Doty,
SBCTC’s capital budget director, followed up Ward’s testimony outlining the
State Board’s concerns with the governor’s proposed capital budget. Partially
funding projects, as proposed in the budget, would cause delays to five
projects. The board is also concerned with overall funding to community and
technical colleges. The funding level, Doty said, represents the smallest
dollar amount of the state’s bonds for the community and technical colleges in
recent history.
Coming
up next week
Next
week, legislators will hear from State Board and college staff on proposals to
create a higher education task force on mental health and suicide prevention
and to provide early registration for spouses and domestic partners of active
duty military personnel.