Washington Governor Chris Gregoire today sharpened her budget ax in the wake of yesterday’s news that state revenue collections were lower than expected over the last month, and the increasing likelihood that the official revenue forecast in September will bring more bad news.
Gov. Gregoire
The governor is asking state agency directors to be ready to cut their budgets by between four percent and seven percent, depending on how the September forecast looks, to get ready to make $500 million in strategic cuts in a supplemental budget very early during the 2011 legislative session, and to start thinking about how they would cut their budgets by up to 10 percent for the 2011-13 biennial budget the legislature will write next year.
To say that Washington budget news continues to be dismal is an understatement. Joy over recent news that Congress will come through with some anticipated money to help pay for teachers and Medicare was short-lived.
What this will mean for higher education and student financial aid programs is anybody’s guess at this point. Very little of the talk at the governor’s news conference today was about higher ed, save for some immediate cuts in a welfare-to-work program that will mean fewer job training opportunities for participants. The Higher Education Coordinating Board may well be asked to simply cut all aid programs by a certain amount. The more strategic thinking would come through work on the supplemental budget.
The governor did not share any specific advice she may have received from her committee on the transformation of the budget or from a special task force convened to re-think higher education funding, though she did use a specific example of the kind of question she wants to ask, with regard to the welfare-to-work program, and that is whether the private sector—churches, foundations, nonprofits—can shoulder some of the work now being done by the state.
Will the governor and legislature continue to support financial aid, given its clear, positive effect on students and their efforts to get an education and become strong contributors to Washington’s economic recovery?
It’s going to be another interesting year.
UPDATE: Friday morning the HEC Board sent out a note saying that student aid, specifically the State Need Grant program, will probably take cuts. “We don’t know the exact amount of the impact to State Need Grant but it will be in the millions,” said the note. This will be a big challenge for students returning to college in the fall expecting a grant. They may receive less, or possibly none at all.
For more information:
- TVW blog post from the governor’s news conference, with actual video below
- Article from The Olympian on the budget situation
- Governor’s news release on the steps she’s taking today
