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September 16, 2011
$1.4b Deficit Opens up for 2011-13 in WA
On Thursday, September 16, the Washington State Economic and Revenue Forecast Council (ERFC) released its quarterly update of State General Fund Revenues. The forecast reduced expected revenue for the upcoming 2011-13 biennium to $30.3 billion, $1.4 billion less than the previous forecast released in June. A deficit of this magnitude is expected to necessitate another…
June 17, 2011
Projected 2011-13 State Revenue Takes a Dive
Yesterday, the Washington State Economic Revenue and Forecast Council released a troubling update for 2011-13 state general fund revenue. Overall, the over $730 million dollars held in reserve in the recently signed budget is now projected to be only $163 million. If this trend continues, mid-year and supplemental session cuts may be likely. Please see…
May 25, 2011
No Surprises in (Nearly) Final State Operating & Capital Budgets
While the House and Senate have yet to finish sine die today, both capital and operating budgets are close to final. The UW’s operating budget cut is $207 million over the biennium. UW’s cuts are comprised of “higher education reductions” and a mandatory 3 percent, general fund state compensation reduction ($12 million per year). Compensation reductions,…
May 11, 2011
Legislature Authorizes Tuition Setting for WA Institutions
As of today, House Bill 1795 has passed both the Washington State House and Senate by wide margins and is on its way to the Governor. As outlined in our previous post, this bill gives Washington’s four year public institutions the ability to set resident undergraduate tuition rates, alongside new financial aid and accountability requirements,…
May 9, 2011
Tuition Setting
Friday, the Seattle Times published an article about a potential agreement between lawmakers to, given several years of steep funding cuts, allow Washington’s universities to set undergraduate resident tuition rates for a limited number of years and with new financial aid and accountability requirements. News of this agreement comes as the Legislature is in the…
April 19, 2011
Special Session Likely as WA Senate Passes Budget with 6 Days to Spare
The Washington State Senate passed its budget last night after adopting two floor amendments. The budget cuts, compensation reductions, and policy issues we outlined were not amended in any substantive way in the engrossed budget passed by the Senate last night. Readers can examine the evolution of the House and Senate versions in detail here and here….
April 15, 2011
Fast Track to Graduation: WA Senate Bill 5442
In an effort to give more students the opportunity to earn a bachelor’s degree and enter the workforce early, the legislature passed SB 5442, “Requiring the development of three-year baccalaureate degree programs.” The bill, which was delivered to the Governor for approval on April 12th, requires institutions of higher education to provide degree programs that…
April 11, 2011
Tuition-Setting Authority Coupled with Accountability: Two Bills Propose Reforms
Preserving the access to and quality of higher education is paramount in the face of massive budget cuts. Two bills, HB 1795 (Enacting the higher education opportunity act) and SB 5915 (Regarding higher education funding and performance), seek to achieve this goal by: 1. Giving tuition-setting authority to universities 2. Reforming Financial Aid 3. Strengthening…
April 5, 2011
Finally, House Operating and Capital Budget Details
The House released operating and capital budgets yesterday for the upcoming biennium (FY12 & FY13). This budget is an important next step in the budget development process in Olympia but we are far from having a final compromise budget. The House operating budget proposal: Cuts state funding for the UW by $204 million over two…
April 1, 2011
Western Governor’s University: WA House Bill 1822
This is the first in a series of blog posts that presents a Washington State Legislative bill that we are tracking and provides more information about what the bill does and why it is relevant to the UW. As the demand for higher education increases, especially among students who are place-bound or have outside commitments…
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