Olympia Update No.
2 for the 2003 Legislative Session
March 7, 2003
From: Larry Ganders,
Assistant to the President
925 Plum St. SE - Building 4, P.O. Box 43165, Olympia, WA 98504-3165
A
critical crossroads for the State’s Largest Industry and WSU
The
state’s agricultural industry will benefit directly if the legislative agenda by
the University of Washington and Washington State University is successful. The
research institutions are arguing to protect quality through core university
funding in the operating budget and expand capital construction.
Breaking from past practices, the
institutions are surprising lawmakers by resisting any efforts to create new
programs or add student enrollment capacity at the expense of critical existing
programs which they refer to as “the core.” These programs include current WSU
research and extension activities in agriculture, veterinary medicine, and
biotechnology. President Rawlins will meet with industry leaders Monday to
discuss the issues.
The Problem:
All through the decade of the 1990s and
into this decade, most new funding provided to higher education has been for
adding student capacity. The Legislature set increasingly higher enrollment
targets for institutions and provided partial funding, usually about $5,500 for
each additional student. In most budgets, these increases in student enrollments
were coupled in the same year with budget cuts to existing programs.
The Legislature and Governor typically advised
or required that so-called “instructional” categories of funding be protected
from cuts, shifting an additional burden on so-called non-instructional areas.
At most institutions, these “non-instructional” cuts hit administration,
building maintenance, etc. At the research institutions, these
“non-instructional cuts” impacted state-sponsored research activities and
extension programs.
The result was that while the
universities received some of the largest budgets in history, state funding per
student decreased significantly, tuition was increased to make up part of the
cuts in instructional areas, and research and extension programs were eroded.
WSU and UW believe this has seriously reduced the quality of both research and
instructional programs and damage to its “core” must be reversed.
The UW-WSU Legislative Solution and how it
benefits Agriculture:
Biennial Operating Budget
(Changes to House Bill 1165 & Senate Bill 5404 in fiscal committees):
n
Any “new” funding for higher
education should go for “core programs.”
This is non-earmarked funding that can raise the quality of existing university
programs in teaching, research and extension.
n
If it is necessary to reduce
funding for core programs with the state’s $2.5 billion budget shortfall, then
no new student enrollments or new programs should be added.
There should be no operating budget proviso that protects instructional
programs exclusively from cuts. Many ideas for new program expansion are
attractive to WSU: creating new instructional programs in enology and
viticulture, additional student capacity in high-demand fields like nursing and
engineering, or creating a new Technology Institute at WSU Vancouver. However,
even the best ideas can not come at the expense of further cuts to core
programs. Funding the core must be the priority. Students should not be added to
agricultural programs while related agricultural research and extension is cut.
n
A WSU core operating budget
request for veterinary medicine should be funded.
The university is seeking $2.6 million next
biennium to replace the decision by the Oregon Legislature to withdraw students
from WSU and create its own College of Veterinary Medicine.
Tuition Policy (The
Universities Support House Bill 1437 and Senate Bill 5448:)
n
The state should be discouraged
from raising tuition rates to fill the void left by declining state spending.
The state must invest general fund dollars in higher education and allow
institutions to set their own tuition rates
(such as a bill approved this week by the House
Higher Education Committee.) Relying on student tuition to minimize state budget
cuts is a bad policy for research universities and will hurt agricultural
programs disproportionately. It is doubtful that WSU will be able to increase
student tuition to benefit an agricultural research or extension program.
Tuition dollars are generally earmarked for instructional areas.
Capital Construction Budget
(Changes to House Bill 1366 in House Capital Committee and Senate Bill 5401 in
Ways & Means:)
n
WSU has given an unprecedented
priority to Bioscience buildings in the capital budget which should be funded.
Projects recommended by the governor include the $39 million Johnson Hall
Addition slated for construction in the next two years. We are also seeking
design funding from this Legislature for a $61.5 million Biotechnology/Life
Science Facility scheduled for 2005-2007. A Prosser Multi-purpose Building that
will house critical research in potatoes and wine grapes was not recommended by
the governor but is being considered by the House Capital Budget Committee and
the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
n
The “Evans-Gardner” Capital
Enhancement Proposal (House Bill 1908 and related measures) should be funded.
This is a 10-year plan by two former Washington
governors to secure $14 million in funding not recommended by the governor for a
Tri-Cities Bioproducts and Sciences Building, a Biomedical Sciences Facility,
and a new laboratory building for WSU Prosser, the first major capital project
proposed for an agricultural experiment station in nearly a half century.
The proposal was recently endorsed by Governor Gary Locke.
