Now that session is almost a distant memory, I’ve had some time to attend to other duties, one of which is providing an update on what’s happening in other states that are home to the UW’s global challenge peer universities.
You may recall that since the passage of legislation in the 2007 session establishing the so-called “global challenge states” as the official comparison states for measuring Washington’s progress in improving education funding, we have tried to keep much closer tabs on budget and policy matters in those states, particularly the impacts on research universities.
Today, I have posted the Spring 2008 Global Challenge State Update to the Spotlight section of the website, providing information on California, Virginia, Massachusetts, Colorado, Connecticut, New Jersey and Maryland. As you might expect, with the exception of Colorado and Connecticut, most states are experiencing various levels of fiscal distress and our peer universities are facing some potentially significant budget cuts, particularly in California and New Jersey.
We’ll check back in with these states later this summer to report on how their legislative sessions wrapped-up. In the meantime, I hope you will find this report informative and useful.