LEGISLATURE PASSES FINAL BUDGET AND RETURNS
HOME AFTER A SUCCESSFUL SESSION FOR WSU
Legislators Saturday passed a new version of
the state biennial operating budget, House Bill 2259, and
promptly adjourned a scheduled 105-day legislative session Sunday
night that succeeded in making higher education a priority. Gov.
Locke, who had vetoed the entire higher education section of the
previous budget, came to agreement with lawmakers on the revised
budget that provides $6 million more than originally passed for
the state need grant program. It is unlikely he will repeat his
sweeping veto with the compromise budget. The compromise
raises the total in new financial aid moneys for higher education
students to about $30 million. WSU’s total general
fund-state appropriation for the next two years remained
unchanged at approximately $339.67 million in the revised budget.
While there are cuts to existing WSU programs in the budget,
there is a net increase to the university of 9 percent over the
current biennium.
Salary proposal unchanged. There were no
other changes to dollars allocated in the higher education
section, though the governor had indicated a desire to secure
more funding for salary increases and listed that failure as
among his disappointments. Salary increases remained at a 3
percent cost-of-living increase on July 1, an option for WSU to
award additional increases for faculty and professionals of up to
1 percent (4 percent total) on July 1 and an additional 2 percent next year. There
also is a $1.2 million "retention pool" for WSU
faculty.
Accountability language improved. At the
governor’s urging, the Legislature did agree to remove the
requirement that each institution must close the gap to specified
"accountability" or performance goals by 10 percent
next year. The new language provides that the Higher Education
Coordinating Board will determine the percentage of the gap for
each measure for each institution. WSU welcomed the change as an
opportunity to explain to HEC Board officials that closing the
gap by 10 percent for some performance measures is virtually
impossible for a land grant institution that accepts students
with an average SAT score of 1,000. This could be critical for
WSU as up to $1.8 million of the university’s budget could
be revoked by the state if it fails to meet certain efficiency
standards.
No change in Pullman enrollment penalty
language. Despite a request by the governor, negotiators did
not change the sanctions for enrollment targets, which forces WSU
Pullman to enroll exactly 17,403 students next year – about
550 more than are currently enrolled -- or face financial
penalties. A five percent margin for error was allowed for the
branch campuses.
Supplemental budget allows for carry-over of
pesticide commission monies. A supplemental budget for
the current biennium was also included in the 1997-99 biennial
budget bill, HB 2259. It altered language in the current budget
to allow unspent but contractually allocated monies for pesticide
re-registration research, such as at WSU Tri-Cities, to be spent
next biennium.
WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY TUITION WILL
INCREASE 4 PERCENT NEXT FALL TO BENEFIT SALARIES
The Legislature has passed legislation that
will increase tuition for Washington State University students by
4 percent this fall and another 4 percent in 1998 under the terms
of a compromise to Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 5927.
Tuition and fees for resident undergraduate students at WSU,
currently $3,142 per year, will increase to $3,266 next year.
Non-resident students who currently pay $9,758 per year, will pay
about $10,148 next year. The conference report basically set
tuition increases for all students at 4 percent per year with
most of the new funds expected to go to pay faculty salary
increases. The only exceptions were the University of Washington,
where non-resident undergraduate student tuition will increase by
8.3 percent. WSU unsuccessfully argued this session against
different non-resident rates for the two research institutions.
Tuition for UW law students will increase 7.3 percent for
residents and 6.7 percent for non-residents. Efforts by UW to
raise tuition higher for its master’s degree program in
business administration failed. Tuition rates will be frozen in
1999 unless the Legislature adopts different rates or a different
tuition policy. New tuition rates may be included in the
operating budget. Language tying release of enrollment funds to
completion of accountability standards was deleted from the bill.
GOVERNOR SIGNS $90 MILLION WSU CAPITAL
BUDGET
Gov. Gary Locke signed legislation approving
the WSU capital budget Saturday night. Legislation providing the
necessary bonds for the projects (SB 6064) was among the final
bills passed by the Legislature before it adjourned about 10:40
p.m. Sunday night. The only major higher education controversy
involved construction funding for a UW law school building, which
was not included in the final budget.
LEGISLATURE APPROVES WSU TRUST LANDS
LEGISLATION
Legislation sought by WSU to end the illegal
practice of charging Department of Natural Resources management
fees for 70,650 acres of university agricultural trust lands has
been passed by the Washington Legislature. The final conference
committee on House Bill 1418 incorporated virtually all of the
language sought by WSU. Efforts by the department to take the
fees from other WSU funds were unsuccessful. The Legislature
decided that the Board of Natural Resources should determine the
amount necessary to manage the WSU lands and "shall bill the
state of Washington for this amount." "The state may
choose the fund source to use to pay this cost, provided that the
funds represent moneys from the treasury of the state." DNR
has been charging WSU up to 25 percent of the gross income on the
trust lands, a fee that the state attorney general has said is
improper. House Bill 1418 limits the fees to 22 percent of gross
income. Members of the conference committee that supported the
proposal included Sen. Gene Prince, R-Thornton, Rep. Mark
Schoesler, R-Ritzville, House Natural Resources Chairman Jim
Buck, R-Joyce, Rep. Debbie Regala, D-Tacoma, and Senate
Agriculture Chairman Bob Morton, R-Orient The conference bill
passed the House 98-0. The Senate approved the bill 32-8. Sen.
Ken Jacobsen, D-Seattle, led the opposition.
