Committee work continued at a fast pace this
week as the next policy cutoff date arrives Wednesday, April 1. Community and
technical college system request bills on fee waivers, streamlining statutes
and corrections all received hearings. The House operating and capital budget
proposals were released today at 11:30 a.m. with hearings scheduled for Monday,
March 30. Details will be provided in next week’s edition.
Tuition
reduction bills heard in House Higher Education committee
March 26 — Bills to reduce student tuition and find
dedicated funding for higher education received public testimony before the House Higher Education Committee.
ESSB 5954 would tie resident
undergraduate tuition to a percent of the state’s average wage for all public colleges
and universities. The percentages vary depending on whether the college is a
community or technical college, a regional university or a research university.
With a
cap of 6 percent of the state’s average wage, the community and technical
college system would lose about $7 million per year.
The
Legislature would also be required to keep, at a minimum, the allocations
provided in the 2013-15 operating budget, plus additional funding to backfill
any reductions in tuition revenue.
The second bill heard, HB 2201,
would place tax revenue collected on financial institutions’ investments or loans
into a fund to backfill any tuition reductions in the 2015-17 operating budget.
The proposal would be sent to voters as a referendum.
Marty
Brown, SBCTC executive director, testified with
concerns on both bills.
“We share the anxiety legislators and
students have about high tuition and student debt, and respect the Legislature’s
efforts to hold tuition study. But we can’t maintain the quality for our nearly
400,000 students with no additional state funds if tuition is held constant or
reduced,” he said.
Corrections
education focus of Senate committee hearing
March 24 — A wide array of
people testified before the Senate Law
and Justice Committee in favor of HB 1704, which would allow the Department of
Corrections to use existing funds to offer associate degrees in prisons. Three
community college representatives appeared before the committee to voice their
support.
Luke Robins, Peninsula College
president, pointed out that education helps offenders find jobs, re-enter
society and avoid returning to a life of crime. For every dollar invested in
prison education, taxpayers save $20, he said.
Sarah Sytsma, Tacoma Community
College director of correctional education, discussed how education turns
prisoners’ lives around. “Seeing how transformative postsecondary education is
to offenders is truly inspiring,” she said. “Classrooms that encourage
discussion and critical thinking are key places to promote civil behavior and
will lead to long-term safety in our communities.”
David Murley, Spokane Community
College dean of corrections education, said he sees the value of prison
education despite being a “staunch conservative.”
“The
question isn’t ‘why do we pay for this?’ We’re going to have to pay for them
for the rest of their lives if we don’t do this.”
John Carlisle of Allegiance
Staffing testified from a business perspective. “Having a skilled worker come
into our office is very important. It gives them a trajectory. They can see the
vision. They can see where they’re going in their life as opposed to a dead end
job,” he said.
Senate committee hears system request bill, votes on system supported bills
March 24 — The Senate Higher Education
Committee heard the community and technical college system-request bill on
cleaning up statues related to the colleges (HB 1961). Alison Grazzini, SBCTC
legislative director, testified in favor of the bill.
“[It] expires old statutes, it cleans up provisions when
technical colleges joined our college system in the early ‘90s, it adds
technical colleges to existing provisions, and provides general cleanup to make
things read a little easier,” she said.
The committee later voted on appointments and bills
advancing them to the next step in the legislative process:
·
Merisa T Heu-Weller, Bellevue College Board of Trustees
·
Douglass Jackson,
Shoreline Community College Board of Trustees
·
Megan S O'Bryan, Skagit Valley College Board of Trustees
·
SHB 1052: Requiring institutions of higher education to make an early
registration process available to spouses and domestic partners of active
members of the military.
·
HB 1706: Authorizing waivers of building fees and services and
activities fees for certain military service members.
House committee hears sexual
violence prevention bills and fee waiver bill
March 24 — Three bills of interest to the community and technical college system were
heard Tuesday by the House Higher
Education Committee. Two — SSB 5518 and SSB 5719 — address campus sexual violence and prevention. The third bill, supported
by community and technical college system, would waive building and activities
fees for active duty members of the military (SB 5620).
Joe Holliday, SBCTC director student services, testified in favor of SSB 5518 and SSB
5719, taking the opportunity to remind committee members of the uniqueness of
community and technical colleges.
“We appreciate how the bill is more closely aligned with
federal requirements, as we testified in the Senate,” Holliday said of SSB
5518. “We are literally awash in federal requirements both legislative and
executive and trying our best to keep up with those so we are very appreciative
that the bill is seeking to be aligned with federal requirements.”
Community and technical colleges are already working to
implement a model student conduct code and developing procedures and connecting
students with resources, which SSB 5518 would require colleges to do. The bill
would also require the 34 colleges to conduct a campus climate survey of
employees and students and develop memoranda of understanding with local law
enforcement agencies.
SSB 5719 would create a taskforce on sexual violence
prevention. The State Board for Community and Technical Colleges would participate
in the taskforce along with the state’s other colleges and universities, the
Washington Student Achievement Council, the Council of Presidents, law
enforcement and the attorney general’s office.
“Community and technical colleges’ environments are
fundamentally different than university environments,” Holliday said while testifying
on SSB 5719. “We’re happy to see our representation on the taskforce. We’d like
to see identified best practices in non-residential campuses, [and] best
practices involving adjunct faculty as supporters.”
Committee members also heard from Nick Lutes, SBCTC’s operating budget director, who testified in
favor of SB 5620.
“It’s a very important bill for a number of current
active duty members who are receiving tuition assistance on our campuses who
would come the next semester or next quarter and find that they have an extra
$200 on their bill,” Lutes said.
·
Holliday on SSB 5518
starts at 29:49
·
Holliday on SSB 5719
starts at 45:53
·
Lutes on SB 5620 starts
at 50:36
Dual credit bill
heard in Senate education committee
March 23 — Marty Brown, SBCTC executive
director, testified Monday before the Senate
Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee on dual credit opportunities
for high school-aged students (E2SHB 1546). He expressed the community and technical college system’s support of
Running Start and College in the High School, which provide 11th and
12th graders a chance to earn high school and college credit at the
same time.
“Dual credit is a very valuable tool for access to higher
education in our state,” Brown said. “We urge you to expand it and at the same
time continue the rigor that is needed while returning programs to their
original intents.”
The community and technical college system in the 2013-14
academic year saw more than 20,000 high school juniors and seniors taking
classes through Running Start. Nearly 4,000 high school students were served by
six community and technical colleges through College in the High School
programs.
The bill with amendments passed the committee Tuesday and
is now waiting a hearing in the Senate
Ways and Means Committee. The amended version allows a program called
“Running Start in the High School” to be offered only at high schools that are
30 miles away from institutions of higher education, which already offer
dual-credit programs in high schools and on college campuses.
Link to testimony (starts at 1:14:28)
Coming
up next week
Next week, policy committees wrap up their
work on bills by the Wednesday cutoff date. Policy bills must be voted out of
those committees in order to continue in the legislative process. The House
operating and capital budget proposals are scheduled for public hearings on
Monday and voted out on Tuesday.