Olympia Updates

Governor boosts WSU enrollments...
Supports limited phase of Spokane Academic Center 

  A supplemental operating budget that spends surplus state reserve monies to put more students in college and “build better lives” was unveiled today by Gov. Gary Locke. Tucked in the governor’s budget were special funding packages that will provide $1.5 million to WSU technology research programs, $1.4 million to add 288 WSU undergraduate students, and a funding pool to serve enrollments in high-demand programs like nursing, technology, and special education.

Unlike this year’s final legislative budget, this proposal contains no cuts to existing university programs. UW and WSU Boards of Regents have repeatedly warned that freshman and community college admissions must be capped if additional funds are not provided. UW was allocated 577 new student slots under the plan. In addition to the new enrollments allocated to the institution, the governor provided a high demand enrollment pool that could serve more than 900 students, including some at WSU.

In a companion capital budget proposal, critical funding for several WSU projects was included. But the news was mixed for the university’s highest legislative priority, the Spokane Academic Center on the Riverpoint campus. For the first time, the governor recommended construction begin this coming year on the project, a huge milestone for what is expected to be a $36 million library and classroom facility at Riverpoint.  The funding for this and other higher education projects was made possible by this year’s “Evans-Gardner” capital construction bonding proposal, according to the governor’s staff members. But the $6.65 million allocated by the governor to the Spokane Academic Center for the coming year is far below the $20 million sought by WSU for the first leg of the project.

Governor’s Proposal Pauses Spokane Project

 After Completion of the Building Foundation.

 The governor’s approach means that the construction season will end next year with a poured foundation at the Spokane Academic Center job site. WSU had sought enough funding for not only the foundation, but for the exterior walls and roof of the building. The WSU proposal, still favored by many legislators, will allow construction to continue smoothly at the job site and open the building on schedule in the fall of 2006. The timeline is critical to accommodate nursing and other programs dependent on the facility. WSU is still evaluating the construction schedule that the governor’s proposal would generate. The governor’s appropriation is also tied to language that could require WSU to change the number of its people and programs that occupy the building, however there so far is very little legislative support for retaining that language.

Pullman Wastewater Reclamation Project Approved.

 Locke’s capital budget proposal also provides $3.4 million to jumpstart the Wastewater Reclamation Project in Pullman to ease the alarming decline of the aquifer level in the Pullman-Moscow area. The aquifer is the source of domestic, commercial and industrial water for Pullman and other communities in Whitman County. In the last year, the water level dropped by more than one foot. This project is the first phase of a proposal that will reclaim more than 1.3 million gallons per day by treating and filtering wastewater for irrigation and power plant cooling. The governor’s budget office attached some language to the proposal that  seek to limit future state appropriations, however alternative language has been proposed by WSU and is being met with support.

Governor reinforces his support for WSUNet

In an unusual move, Locke actually allocated more funding than WSU requested to do its ongoing upgrades of the campus computer network. Locke added $2 million to WSU’s $4 million request for infrastructure category known as “WSUNet.” Against a current backlog of $10 million, the funding provides for necessary changes to bandwidth, network servers, and system security throughout WSU’s network infrastructure.

All totaled, WSU picked up $16.05 million in new construction dollars in the governor’s budget. Other higher education institutions also did well. The University of Washington received $29.6 million, Western Washington University received $900,000, Central Washington University picked up $3.16 million, Eastern Washington University received $8.12 million, The Evergreen State College received $1.5 million and the state’s Community and Technical Colleges received more than $35 million in new monies.

Locke increases Student Financial Aid program

  The governor also added $6.7 million to increase grant awards to recipients of the Washington Promise program. Promise scholarship reward 7,000 students from low- and middle-income families who graduate in the top 15 percent of their high school class. The action taken by the governor will double the grants awarded to many students.