Olympia Updates

A 3 a.m. decision Friday that the education budget wasn’t “good enough” led Gov. Christine Gregoire to provide a substantial increase in the number of new students that can be admitted to Washington State University in the next two years.

     Eight hundred and thirty new full-time students for the Washington State University system without general budget cuts or tax increases; salary increases; and two new science buildings were among the highlights of the governor’s first biennial capital and operating budgets announced this morning.

     While Gov. Gary Locke earmarked no enrollment increases for WSU in his budget request released last December, the new governor complained of the “no vacancy sign” she says appears to be hanging on colleges and universities. Her budget provides $7.2 million in new enrollments at all four WSU campuses: 150 students per year will be added in Pullman, 45 students per year in Tri-Cities, and 20 students per year in Spokane. Critical funding to replace Oregon State funded student enrollments in veterinary medicine with Washington residents is also part of the Gregoire budget.

     WSU Vancouver To Admit Freshmen. In a historic decision, she also provided $500,000 in start-up funds and the funding for the first students that will be admitted to WSU Vancouver as freshmen (200 students in 2006-2007.) Gregoire also provided 100 new students per year to continue to build capacity to accept community college transfers at WSU Vancouver. A bill (Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1794) that will allow branch campuses to begin accepting freshmen and sophomores in targeted programs was heard Monday afternoon by the Senate Early Learning, K-12 and Higher Education Committee. The bill has passed the House but no similar legislation has yet cleared the Senate. WSU endorsed the legislation.

     “If we truly value education and health care, it is time to standup and defend those values right now, right here in this budget,” Gregoire said. She requested additional enrollments for the community colleges.

     She indicated she will be asking for immediate authority to admit freshmen at WSU Vancouver and UW Tacoma. But she said she presumed that WSU Tri-Cities and UW Bothell will also evolve into four-year institutions.

     Gregoire followed the legislative discussion of investing less money directly into high-demand enrollments, WSU and other institutions will be allowed to apply to a relative small pool of  $3.4 million or enough to fund 100 students at $11,000 per student.

     In the capital budget, the governor also followed the university’s priority of funding the Biotechnology/Life Sciences building in Pullman and provided an additional facility in the capital budget that was not funded by Locke: the Tri-Cities Bioproducts Building, a joint venture with Battelle’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in which the state will provide $13.1 million in construction dollars. She also provided $2.7 million in seed money that could lead to a wastewater treatment plant in partnership with the City of Pullman, which also not funded in the Locke budget and was vetoed by Locke last year.

     Gregoire funded only $45 million of the $57 million Biotechnology building and provided no funding for the Spokane Nursing Building, both matters that are certain to get lots of discussion as the capital construction budget moves into the Legislature.

     The governor proclaimed that “getting by” in state government “isn’t good enough” even with a $1.6 billion budget deficit. She said she was committed to a “legacy” of making improvements in health care and education, including higher education.

     The Friday morning decision to add an additional cigarette tax apparently allowed today’s enrollment numbers to be boosted substantially to 830 students for WSU, 60 percent more than in some earlier drafts of the budget.

   The governor acknowledged in her morning press conference that enrollments are often added with funding provided by cuts to higher education institutions. “I haven’t given with one hand and taken with the other,” Gregoire told reporters.

    The governor will set tuition increases at about 5 percent per year (3 percent at community colleges,) a rate lower than is being discussed in most parts of the Legislature. Unlike many of the budgets of past years, there was no automatic off-set of tuition dollars. That means WSU is allowed  to keep any additional tuition dollars and use them for reducing class size and retaining outstanding teaching faculty.

    “I didn’t say they had to spend (tuition) on enrollments,” Gregoire said. “I paid for them, I didn’t undercut them by reducing their general funding. I’ve said the (the universities should) invest in quality, invest in your faculty, invest in making a better future for higher education institutions.” 

     WSU has protested that when tuition increases are offset with state funding cuts they do nothing to improve the quality of students’ education. It strongly supports the Gregoire approach.

    Funding in the Gregoire budget for new Pullman students is about $5,500 per student in general fund dollars. At the branch campuses, she provides $6,300 for lower-division students (such as a new freshman class at Vancouver next year) and $7,000 for upper-division students.

    Many faculty and staff receive a 3.2 percent cost-of-living adjustment on July 1 and a 1.6 percent increase next year. Employees represented by the Washington Federation of State Employees will receive a 3.2 percent increase on July 1 plus a 2 percent lump sum bonus next year.