We received a note today from the Higher Education Coordinating Board announcing that it has joined the blogosphere. HECBlog actually made its first post Dec. 1, and now they’re ready for a full roll-out with today’s synopsis of the work of the governor’s Higher Education Funding Task Force.

It is with some irony that this note arrived on the same day that word came out that the governor has proposed elimination of the HEC Board, part of a government streamlining plan that would lump all of “P-20″ education under a cabinet-level Department of Education, led by a secretary appointed by the governor. The new department would take over the responsibilities of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the state Department of Early Learning, the HEC Board, the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, and a number of other agencies dealing with education. In addition to cost savings, the goal would be to better coordinate the state’s educational efforts at all levels and ensure progress toward a common goal. The new department secretary would be advised by a P-20 education council and a K-12 education ombudsman, both appointed by the governor.

The governor’s office issued a policy brief with details of the proposal, and SeattlePI.com has a story about it.

Eliminating the HEC Board isn’t a new idea. Three bills were introduced last year that would have done just that, though none of them received a hearing. With the state’s continuing budget woes, it is possible the idea will get more traction during the legislative session that begins Monday.

We wrote Wednesday about Gov. Chris Gregoire’s proposed budget for the 2011-13 biennium. We found it to be mostly good news. Independent Colleges of Washington is pleased with the governor’s solid support, in fact an increase, for the State Need Grant Program, but disappointed in cuts to State Work Study and suspension of many smaller financial aid programs. Overall, a good budget under difficult circumstances.

Sen. Lisa Brown

Now what? The Legislature ultimately writes the budget, and will take it up in earnest when they convene Jan. 10 for the 2011 session. Some call the governor’s budget a “rough draft” that will change significantly by the time a final vote is taken in late April.

The chit-chat has already begun. Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown of Spokane blogged that, “the service cuts Gov. Gregoire has proposed are numerous, deep and are painful.

“Her list shows the enormity of our task, and I commend the Governor for her first step in tackling this latest hurdle we face as a state,” Brown continued. “Our challenge isn’t just a math problem. We must keep in mind that the education we provide to our young people represents their opportunity for their future.”

Rep. Reuven Carlyle

State Rep. Reuven Carlyle is probably the most prolific blogger in the Legislature. In his post about the budget he expressed some disappointment that the governor didn’t come up with any bold, structural proposals for funding higher education, and outlined some goals of his own.

“The Governor’s budget proposal–creative in some areas but unimaginative in others– simply continues the unrelenting 15 year trend of reducing state spending for higher education while shifting the burden of costs to students. This trend is on a march that we will regret for generations. The base proposal to increase tuition by 9, 10 and 11 percent at our various institutions is not the answer in that it fails to include a way to ensure that students are paying for more than the status quo. I would only support increased tuition as part of a plan to pay for outcomes instead of inputs.

“The plan to stand by the State Need Grant is a critical step in protecting student access, but eliminating Work Study and all of the smaller scholarship programs–including the Passport to College Promise Program for foster youth–is simply unacceptable. And I’ll work hard to find the money to restore those programs.”

We appreciate Carlyle’s commitment to financial aid, and believe that, especially when revenue is tight, it makes sense to focus those resources on the areas of greatest need.

George Bridges

George Bridges, president at Whitman College, has been opining often of late on the need to re-think the way public higher education is funded. The Seattle Times published an op-ed by Bridges Wednesday, a piece that was similar to one the Oregonian ran in Portland earlier this year. Bridges advocates for a system that charges tuition based on the cost of education, with significant investment in financial aid for low- and middle-income students. He also reiterates one of the primary goals of our association, and that is greater collaboration between private and public colleges in Washington.

“Whereas our institutions differ in focus and scope, together we provide thousands of Washingtonians with exceptional educational experiences each year. Any new paradigm for supporting higher education must draw fully upon the resources of every institution and reform must focus on how we can serve students better.

“We must commit to ensuring that they can attend the college or university — public or private — in which they are most likely to thrive intellectually and develop the capacities they will need to succeed in their professional and civic lives. Our state’s future depends upon it.”

We’re looking forward to the on-going discussion of the budget and higher education funding as we work to create opportunity, choice, and success for Washington college students.

Financial aid has been in the news the last couple of days, and the outcomes are, on the whole, positive.

Gov. Gregoire proposes increasing funding for the State Need Grant program by $91 million, while making cuts in most other state financial aid programs for college students.

We were most worried about what would happen to state financial aid programs, given that Washington was looking at a $4.6 billion shortfall for the next two years. But Gov. Chris Gregoire went public today with her proposed 2011-13 biennial budget, and suggested a $91 million increase in funding for the State Need Grant Program, the state’s bread-and-butter, need-based aid program for college students.

On the minus side, the governor’s budget cuts about $21 million out of the State Work Study Program, which means there will be about 2,800 fewer recipients. And it suspends most other smaller aid programs, such as WAVE and Washington Scholars. Current recipients of those will continue to receive grants, but no new awards will be made.

The governor has clearly recognized what we have been saying, that in times of limited resources it makes sense to focus on areas of greatest need. Certainly state financial aid helps some 70,000 students get the education they need to be part of the solution to our state’s economic problems instead of consumers of state services. It’s also a nod to reality; the governor’s budget also includes double-digit tuition hikes at public colleges and universities to help compensate for reductions in direct state support, and few low-income students could shoulder that without assistance.

Kudos to Gov. Gregoire. We think she made a good call on student aid.

We had worries on the federal level, too, as the Pell Grant program was facing a $5.7 billion deficit. But as the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities reported on its blog yesterday, a new U.S. Senate bill includes funding to cover that gap and keep Pell Grants at their current levels. It’s not reality yet, but there could be votes on that in the Senate by this weekend.

Here’s coverage of the governor’s proposed budget from the Seattle Times, the News Tribune, SeattlePI.com, the Olympian, and the Spokesman-Review. For budget junkies, the governor’s website has a news release about her budget and links to lots of other budget documents.

The Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board sent out a news release today outlining the effect the governor’s ordered 6.3 percent across-the-board budget reductions will have on financial aid programs for college students. The news is not good.

The board estimates that the reductions, a cut of nearly $7 million from the State Need Grant Program, will mean that an additional 3,000 students from lower-income families will not receive the assistance for which they’re eligible. That will bring to nearly 25,000 the number of students who qualify for a grant but cannot receive one because the funds ran out. It’s a tough situation for those students. They’ll have to work longer hours (often at the expense of their studies) or take on more loan debt, and many may simply drop out.

That would be a shame. We can’t really blame the governor or legislature. In fact, their commitment to financial aid programs during recent budget crises has been laudable. The budget pressures, however, are enormous. Analysts are projecting the budget shortfall for the 2011-13 biennium to approach $4.5 billion.

This would be a good time to shore up support for student aid programs, as work is already under way on next year’s budget. We urge you to write the governor and your legislators. Thank them for their commitment to student aid, and urge them to keep up the support. When the budget is tight, investment in financial aid makes sense. It focuses scares resources where they’re needed most. And financial aid works.

Help us create opportunity, choice, and success for students. Write today! We’ve made it easy at our Legislative Action Center. If you haven’t already, sign up to be an ICW Advocate and receive occasional email alerts about higher education policy issues and notice when your calls or emails can make a big difference.

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

The State of Washington faces a shortfall of an estimated $2.6 billion in in its biennial budget that runs through next June. Governor Chris Gregoire will let us know tomorrow what she intends to do about it. There’s rampant speculation that higher education will again be a target for cuts, as a major pot of “discretionary” spending that isn’t constitutionally protected.

Three of the state’s higher education leaders have joined hands—or pens at least—to say that further cuts to higher education would be a big mistake. Ron Thomas, president of University of Puget Sound and chair of the board for Independent Colleges of Washington; Rodolfo Arévalo, president of Eastern Washington University and chair of the Council of Presidents; and Charlie Earl, executive director of the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, share authorship of an op-ed column published in today’s Seattle Times urging support for college students and higher education.

Given the demonstrable benefits of higher education both to individuals and society, it’s almost inconceivable that the state’s students and colleges often end up taking the brunt of budget cuts rather than being a top priority for state support.

ICW is particularly concerned about cuts to or even possible elimination of the State Need Grant program, which helps more than 70,000 students of modest means attend the college, public or private, that best meets their academic goals and needs. It’s critical in creating educational opportunities to those students. Protecting financial aid for students is our top legislative priority.

Sign up as an ICW Advocate today at our Legislative Action Center to get important alerts and learn how to help us protect state aid for students who need help paying for college.

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