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Early Start Act signed by governor

This afternoon in Olympia, Gov. Jay Inslee signed the Early Start Act (Second Engrossed Second Substitute House Bill 1491) into law. In a nutshell, it sets quality standards and outcomes for early education, provides support for educators, and expands access to early learning programs. The 2015-17 state operating budget allocates $159 million for early learning […]

Operating budget reduces tuition, increases higher education support by $427 million

One of the major headlines of the 2015-17 operating budget is the tuition reduction. According to the Seattle Times, Washington is “the only state in the country to lower tuition for public universities and colleges next year.” Further, Both the UW and WSU said the budget backfilled the loss in tuition revenue that will result […]

Public schools spending makes up 47.5 percent of 2015-17 budget

As we’ve noted, Gov. Inslee signed the 2015-17 operating budget last night. The budget appropriates $18.157 billion for public schools — a $2.894 billion (or 19.0 percent) increase over 2013-15. This represents 47.5 percent of the budget (it was 45.2 percent of the 2013-15 budget). The Senate summary of the budget notes that spending is […]

Policy changes in the operating budget (as passed) — including deferral of I-1351

Yesterday the Legislature released the details of its 2015-17 operating budget deal and passed the budget bill. As passed, the bill appropriates $38.219 billion (near general fund-state plus opportunity pathways) for the biennium. Maintenance level changes increased spending by $5.360 billion over 2013-15, and policy level changes reduced spending by $934.5 million — for a […]

House tuition-related funding, and a modest proposal for GET

The House operating budget proposal would freeze resident undergraduate tuition, and the various editions of the proposal have provided various amounts of state funds to support institutions that would potentially be losing increased tuition revenues. The table below shows how the proposals offered yesterday compare to the House-passed version. 2P2SHB 1106 would provide additional state […]

InFocus this week: Revenue collections, health spending, Senate tuition plan, and K-12 funding

Senate Bill 6130 tackles the over-reliance on local levies to fund basic education

In a breath of bipartisan fresh air, a group of four senators, two from each party, unveiled SB 6130 yesterday. In this bill, Senators Dammeier, Rolfes, Hargrove, and Rivers seek to address the McCleary-driven need to reduce over-reliance on local levies for funding teachers’ salaries. Sen. Dammeier called the bill a policy “deep dive,” and […]

How does the Senate budget and tuition policy affect higher ed institutions?

As we wrote in College Affordability, Two Ways, the Senate 2015-17 operating budget proposal assumes enactment of ESSB 5954, the College Affordability Program. Under this program, resident undergraduate tuition would be reduced, and the bill explicitly states (see section 2) that the Legislature “shall appropriate” to the institutions in 2015-17 and beyond amounts that are […]

Policy Today: Common Core

Policy Today: Teacher strikes