Blog

June 11 , 2015 - Emily Makings

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 […]


June 05 , 2015 - Emily Makings

Policy Today: Common Core


June 04 , 2015 - Emily Makings

Policy Today: Teacher strikes


May 05 , 2015 - Emily Makings

Policy Today: College Affordability


May 04 , 2015 - Emily Makings

New brief: College Affordability, Two Ways

In a new policy brief, we look at the College Affordability Program, which is the Senate’s plan to reduce tuition for 2015-17. Briefly: The Senate’s College Affordability Program would return tuition-setting authority to the Legislature. It would tie tuition to the state’s average wage, resulting in tuition reductions in the 2015–17 biennium. Reflecting the tuition […]


April 28 , 2015 - Emily Makings

Sundry links: Trade, the budget, McCleary

Economist Gregory Mankiw has an excellent column in the New York Times: “Economists Actually Agree on This: The Wisdom of Free Trade.” Former state senator Rodney Tom has an op-ed in the Seattle Times about the state budget: “It was easy to make a case for fiscal responsibility when the state was in desperate financial […]


April 23 , 2015 - Emily Makings

In Focus this week: The Exchange and the budget, March employment report, and an income tax for education?


April 23 , 2015 - Emily Makings

Dueling op-eds on the budget proposals

The Seattle Times has op-eds from both the House and the Senate on their 2015-17 operating budget proposals. Reps. Ross Hunter and Reuven Carlyle and Sen. Andy Hill provide an overview of the differences between the chambers, as seen by the primary budget writers. (See here for a more inside-baseball take from Rep. Hunter.) Hunter […]


April 22 , 2015 - Emily Makings

Policy Today: Levy Swap and Tax Increases for Education


April 21 , 2015 - Emily Makings

Rep. Hunter on the budget and education finance

Rep. Ross Hunter, chair of the House Appropriations Committee, has a very interesting blog post about what is going on in the budget negotiations and education finance. As Hunter shows, there are a number of issues that must be resolved. If you’re interested in either topic, I highly recommend it.