House stokes operating budget with research
Olympia Update No.
5 for the 2004 Legislative Session
March 4, 2004
From: Larry Ganders,
Assistant to the President
925 Plum St. SE - Building 4, P.O. Box 43165, Olympia, WA 98504-3165
House
stokes operating budget with research, enrollment funding; Senate sidetracks
higher education. State
Appropriations Chair Helen Sommers, D-Seattle, made good on her commitment to
university education and engineered a supplemental operating budget (ESSB 6187)
that went steaming out of the state House of Representatives loaded with $1.5
million in state research funds for WSU, $1.6 million in WSU general enrollment
increases, a pool of money for high demand students such as in special
education, a $7.3 million boost in student financial aid statewide, and no cuts
to college budgets. But Senate Ways and Means Chair Joe Zarelli, R-Vancouver,
and the Senate majority Republicans, perhaps reacting to the telegraphed support
for higher education from the House Democrats, took a different track.
The streamlined Senate
budget (ESHB 2459) contains few enhancements for higher education.
It’s the second straight year that the Senate Republicans, fiscally more
conservative but long viewed as the favored caucus for higher education in the
state Legislature, weighed in with substantially less funds than the House. At
first it was feared the two constrasting budgets were headed for a train wreck.
But until the last couple days, they never really met. Sommers and Zarelli began
sitting down this week for the first time to try to resolve some differences –
and there are few places in state government that the budget differences are any
more dramatic than in higher education. There’s a sense that higher education
may be the last part of the supplemental budget decided. But there’s also a
strong feeling among lawmakers in the capitol city that all of this election
year budgeting will be decided soon as the scheduled 60-day session of the
Legislature moves into its final week. Whether the differences are fueled by a
genuine difference in philosophy or just political brinksmanship, they are
nevertheless substantial differences for Washington State University.
n
The House
budget provides $850,000 in state matching funds to attract and retain federal
grants for research, the Senate does not.
n
The House
provides $1.6 million to fund 298 additional students at WSU, which will improve
the number of freshman students and transfer students that the university can
admit. The Senate provides none.
n
The House
creates a $6.4 million “high demand enrollment” pool that will allow WSU to
compete with other institutions in the state for an estimated 582 new students
slots at an average of $11,000 per student. That’s a pool that can accommodate
growth in areas like nursing, computer science, and teaching. The state Senate
provided just 227 new students slots.
n
The House
provides $270,000 for an expanded research effort at WSU to implement quicker
test results on detection of “Mad Cow” disease and develop the first “live
animal” test. There was lots of conversation between senators and WSU throughout
the session but at this moment, the Senate budget provides no funding.
n
The House, led
by Caucus Chair Bill Grant, D-Walla Walla, and others, provided $330,000 to
contract with WSU for research and development of asparagus harvesting
technology. The Senate provides none.
n
The House
provided $7.3 million in state financial aid program funding, just under the
governor’s level. The Senate provided $4.9 million. The House funding includes
more funding for the Promise Scholarship, as state aid program intended to
stimulate academic achievement among middle-income as well as low-income
families.
n
And while it’s
a small number for WSU, the Senate also proposed an additional cut to current
budgets. The budget requires state government to reduce certain kinds of travel,
equipment and personal service contracts. The cut to WSU is $24,000.
