Budget bills and bills considered "necessary to
implement the budget" are exempt from these early cut-off deadlines. Next
week’s edition will include a round-up of bills of significant impact to community
and technical colleges that survive today’s Feb. 22 policy cut-off.
College degree programs bill clears House Committee
A bill sponsored by Rep.
Larry Seaquist, D-Gig Harbor, that would allow the Department of Corrections to
fund college degree programs in prison, won the support of the House Higher
Education Committee on Thursday. Current law allows the department to offer
adult basic education and vocational training, but bars the department from
providing for college degree programs.
In earlier testimony on Wednesday, Jacquie Armstrong, SBCTC policy associate for corrections,
testified in favor of the measure, pointing out that prison education
interrupts generational poverty, reduces recidivism, and increases wages.
Joe Small, Walla
Walla Community College dean of corrections, said the college’s AA degree
program is funded by a third-party and not the state. “It’s
given them hope, and it’s given them self confidence that they can go out there
and do something important and take care of themselves and their families,” he
said.
Gina McConnell, Seattle
Central Community College student, testified she was able to escape street life and stay out of prison thanks to the self-confidence she gained in a prison horticulture program. “I thought of myself as nothing but
a street monger and did not believe that I was worth more than anything other
than to die a statistic. I know that (education) has changed my life and it
gave me a purpose.” She recently started working for the King County juvenile
court system, reunifying parents and children.
A similar story of hope was offered by Kevin Miller, who earned a computer information system program
certificate and later an AA degree while at the Washington State Penitentiary
in Walla Walla and the Coyote Ridge Corrections Center. He has been out of
prison for seven months and is now enrolled at Washington State University. “The
reason I’m here is because of the transfer degree I earned. I’m employed. I have
housing. A lot of wonderful things are happening in my life. My transition has
been successful because of the opportunities I had while I was incarcerated.” State financial aid for immigrant children wins support
The House Higher Education Committee on Thursday approved Substitute House Bill 1817 by Rep. Zack Hudgins, D-Tukwila, to extend state financial aid to undocumented students often referred to as “DREAMers.” More details about this measure will be featured in the next edition of Legislative News after further staff analysis.
Expanded role for Centers of Excellence considered
On Thursday, the House
Labor & Workforce Development Committee held a public hearing and took
action on Substitute
House Bill 1823 concerning the Centers of Excellence.
The Centers of Excellence (COE) are currently created and
operated under the auspices of the community and technical college system. Centers
work with employers, other colleges, career and technical education programs in
regional high schools, skill centers, and labor representatives to develop
curriculum and training programs and to promote best practices in education and
training to support the targeted industry.
The bill expands the role of COEs to include acting as
central sources of information for businesses in targeted industries and
working with K-12 schools, colleges, universities, and apprenticeship programs.
Jim Crabbe, SBCTC
director of workforce education, and Barbara
Hins-Turner, Pacific Northwest Center of Excellence for Clean Energy
executive director, testified in support with concerns.
At present, the centers are largely self-support, with base
funding of only $154,000 per year for each of the 10 centers. Crabbe said the additional
cost for the system would be an estimated $1.6 million (for 1.5 FTE employees at
each of 10 COEs and one FTE at SBCTC for administration/grant coordination).
Bill sponsor, Rep.
Mike Sells, D-Everett, asked if the system would entertain running a pilot
or two instead. Crabbe was open to the idea, with appropriate funding, saying the
expansion is laudable, but without additional resources it’s a “bridge too far.”
Hins-Turner said that in the face of economic and budget uncertainties,
the centers have experienced high turnover, losing 12 directors since their
inception. In her role since 2005, she is the longest-serving COE director. The
short-term nature of externally funded, project-based grants also leads to fluctuations
in staff levels as grants expire.
She said the centers with the greatest accomplishments are
those which have secured external funding, whose directors have some longevity, and
have formed strong partnerships
with industry and labor.
The bill passed out of committee Wednesday.
Bill requires colleges inform students about multiple ways to place
into pre-college classes
On Tuesday, the Senate
Higher Education Committee heard Senate
Bill 5712 which encourages colleges to make students aware of the several ways
— in addition to placement tests — to determine the need for precollege courses.
The bill, sponsored by Sen.
Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, requires SBCTC to encourage colleges to use
multiple measures to determine whether a student must enroll in a pre-college
course including — but not limited to — placement tests, the SAT, high school
transcripts, college transcripts, or initial class performance.
Michelle Andreas, SBCTC
director of student services and transfer education, testified in support, and said our community and technical colleges have made a major effort to study and
review pre-college efforts and best practices for placing students in remedial
courses.
“While colleges do not have clearly posted options for multiple
measures,” she said, “we are happy to do so.”
She said research shows that multiple tools to assess
multiple populations show better results, so colleges are working to use
different measures, such as high school grade point average, as a predictor of
college success.
Colleges are also working with local high schools and
mapping course-taking patterns to determine placement in college. High school
and college faculty-to-faculty collaboration has been helping in aligning
curriculum.
The bill passed out of committee today and awaits further
action.
Companion TANF bills heard
On Tuesday, the House
Early Learning & Human Services Committee and the Senate Human Services & Corrections Committee heard companion
bills regarding the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.
Senate
Bill 5643, sponsored by Sen. Jeannie Darneille, D-Tacoma, and House
Bill 1734, sponsored by Rep. David
Sawyer, D-Tacoma, would significantly expand exemptions and hardship
extensions to the 60-month TANF time limit.
Most significant was the option for an extension for residents in counties that had an unemployment rate of six percent or more. Rep. Sawyer shared substitute language regarding circumstances beyond the parent's control and the impact on economically disadvantaged counties. The substitute removes all new exemption categories except for the hardship exemption allowed when a family receiving Temporary Assistance to Needy Persons lives in a county where the rate of unemployment is 10 percent or higher.
Rick Krauss,
SBCTC policy associate, testified that the SBCTC supports a more flexible
approach to time limits for students with challenges. Krauss highlighted some of the programs –
parenting skills, family support, college orientation, I-BEST, community partnerships
– the system developed to support WorkFirst students in their college engagement,
retention, and successful completion.
In both hearings, advocate representatives spoke in support.
David Stillman, DSHS Economic
Services Administration, said the substitute bill addresses some of their
concerns, but there are still several issues with the legislation they could
help resolve.
Representatives of advocate organizations testified in
support as this legislation recognized issues beyond a participant's control and
the adverse impact on children for the loss of TANF support.
Defining work and extending education and training time for WorkFirst
On Tuesday, the Senate Human Services & Corrections
Committee heard testimony on Senate
Bill 5600 which would revise the definition of WorkFirst work activities to
include education and training provided by CTCs.
Sponsored by Sen. James
Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, the bill would also increase the maximum length of
time for vocational education from the current 12 months to 24.
Rick Krauss,
SBCTC policy associate, spoke in support, explaining how the current 12-month
limit does not allow students to pursue two-year vocational degrees. “Students
struggle to finish within 12 months, because they need to take prerequisites
[to get to college-level work],” he said. “And to be eligible for the training,
students also have to work 20 hours a week, which is a challenge because most
have children.”
Its companion bill, HB 1342, passed out of committee last
week and has been referred to the Appropriations Committee.