Legislators address trustees

Rep. Larry Seaquist, D-Gig Harbor, chair of the House Higher Education Committee, gave the keynote speech at the Trustees Association for Community and Technical Colleges (TACTC) winter conference on Sunday evening, discussing the challenges and opportunities facing the higher education system in the months ahead.

During an event honoring Transforming Lives Award recipients, Rep. Seaquist highlighted the importance of higher education to our state’s economic recovery. “In my view, we need to reset ourselves to build this state out of an economy that is just fluttering at stall speed and has a high risk of failure. And you are the people who are going to do that,” he said.

Yet Seaquist also warned cuts to higher education are inevitable because of the state’s remaining $1.5 billion budget gap and the recent Supreme Court “McCleary” decision which puts pressure on the state Legislature to fully fund basic education. “It’s not going to be easy to make it smaller than (the Governor’s proposed) $160 million cut, but we’ll try like heck to do that,” he said.

Rep. Larry Haler, R-Richland, minority leader of the House Higher Education Committee, spoke to the trustees Monday, saying he was appalled the state considers higher education discretionary funding. He suggested the state’s definition of “basic education” should include two-year certificates and degrees because a high school education alone is not enough to succeed in today’s workforce.

“I’d like to urge you to help get the message out. Talk to your representatives and your state senator…they desperately need to hear from you,” he said.

Sen. Andy Hill, R-Redmond, minority leader of the Senate Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee, discussed what he called the “sins of the past.” He blamed the budget gap on the Legislature’s tendency to launch costly new programs when revenues surge temporarily. “We hit good times, spent every dollar we had, made commitments, and now we have to take those away,” he said. “It’s like your rich uncle dies and gives you a chunk of money. You use the money to make a down payment and two months of the mortgage, and then you’re out of money. That’s exactly where the state is right now.”

Hill urged the higher education system to work doubly hard to secure funding because the K-12 system and social services already have strong advocates.

Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina, House Ways and Means Committee chair, lauded the system for being nimble and responsive to the needs of the workforce.

“The community and technical colleges are very productive,” he told trustees. “Yet a lot of problems get in the way of completion.” He said he would like to enhance the pipeline of students prepared to succeed in higher education, in part by increasing high school math requirements.

Rep. Hunter said that, unfortunately, because there is no state or constitutional protection for higher education, the Legislature is essentially “stuck and has no choice but to cut.”

He suggested Washington has a structural funding problem, with a tax system that was great for 1957, but not today. “To grow our economy, we need to invest in higher education, while our system does the opposite.”

“You guys are smart. You figure it out,” he said, challenging the trustees to increase the number of degrees earned in the state.

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Obama’s state of the nation address features community colleges

In his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Obama emphasized economic issues, providing his blueprint for building the economy and keeping the American dream alive.

One of the key components of his strategy relies on community colleges to develop new business partnerships to train two million skilled workers. The president envisioned a streamlined workforce system with a single website designed to help individuals seeking to attain the training needed to fill current and future job openings.

Obama discussed a successful business-college partnership and urged Congress to “… give more community colleges the resources they need to become community career centers—places that teach people skills that local businesses are looking for right now, from data management to high tech manufacturing.” He also called on Congress to simplify the workforce system and turn the current “unemployment system into a reemployment system.”

Excerpted from “President’s State of the Union Address Recognizes Community Colleges,” American Association of Community Colleges, January 25, 2012.

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Innovative practices highlighted

On Monday, the House Higher Education Committee held a work session to hear progress and challenges in higher education for students, advisors, and faculty.

Student leaders Nathan Fitzgerald, North Seattle Community College, and Katelyn Neniskis, Pierce College Fort Steilacoom, and Mike Fentress, Bellingham Technical College financial aid director, spoke about the challenges in community and technical colleges.

Fitzgerald said he represents the demographics of many CTC students: older, with a family, coming from a low-income background, and needing a second chance. Nathan said budget cuts have resulted in lost support for work study, less opportunity for the academic advising students need to select the right courses, and loss of financial aid for part-time students.

Neniskis, a military spouse and mother of two, said she is a struggling student trying to balance home and school. She said that she, like most other students, is willing to live a hard life now to provide a better future for herself and her family.

The budget cuts have reduced the number of available courses needed for graduation, she said. For example, as an engineering student hoping to transfer to a university, she needs a calculus course to graduate.

“There is only one course available with 34 students on a waiting list and no money to add a second course to meet demand,” she said. Katelyn also expressed concern that budget cuts are closing access to low-income students and returning military service members.

Fentress shared innovations in financial aid occurring across the state, including a financial aid portal that allows students online access to financial aid applications and scholarship information.

He stressed his concern over changes in federal financial aid that will limit students from accessing higher education. New federal rules allow only students with a high school diploma or GED to get federal aid. He explained these changes will deeply impact low-income students and those seeking entrance to Washington’s nationally recognized I-BEST programs. Mike thanked representatives for their long-time support for the state need grant and encouraged legislators to maintain the valuable work study program.

To watch their panel on TVW, start at 2:15 on the timeline.

A panel of faculty representatives shared concerns about the impact and strain of budget cuts and efficiency measures on access, student advising, workload, morale, and quality.

• Karen Strickland, AFT Seattle president, representing the Seattle Community College faculty
• Kevin Asman, South Puget Sound Community College English faculty and AFT Local 4603 president
• Carla Naccarato Sinclair, Washington Education Association
• Sharon Mitchler, Centralia College associate professor of English and humanities and faculty union president

To watch their panel on TVW, start at 33:30 on the timeline.

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Bills seek to create councils on student achievement

The House and Senate continued public hearings on bills to improve students’ academic achievements from high school through graduate school. The bills create councils to replace the Higher Education Coordinating Board in July. The bills share common goals, but give the governor different roles in making leadership appointments.

Office of the Student Achievement Council

Proposed Substitute House Bill 2483, sponsored by Rep. Larry Seaquist, D-Gig Harbor, creates an “Office of the Student Achievement Council.” This new state agency would focus on broad policy initiatives with advice from a nine-member, governor-appointed “Student Achievement Council.” The council would be comprised of five citizens and one representative from each of the following interests: four-year schools, the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board. Independent degree-granting institutions and an association of schools would each have a non-voting representative.

The Office of the Student Achievement Council would propose goals to increase educational attainment, monitor progress toward those goals, and link the work of the agencies serving on the council. It would also supply the governor with a list of three names from which to choose an executive director.

The original version of this bill — and its companion, Senate Bill 6232, sponsored by Sen. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor — gave the governor the authority to directly appoint an executive director.

Council for Higher Education

Proposed Substitute Senate Bill 6269, sponsored by Sen. Randi Becker, R-Eatonville, creates a “Council for Higher Education.” Like Substitute House Bill 2483 (described above), Senate Bill 6269 encourages collaboration within the higher education system and a seamless transition from high school through college. The 14-member council would be made up of two representatives from the public baccalaureates, two from the CTC system, one representative of independent nonprofit colleges and universities, one student, and eight citizens. The higher education institutions would appoint their own representatives; the governor would appoint citizens, as nominated by the Legislature, and also appoint the student representative. 

The council would employ its own director, who would serve at the pleasure of the council.

David Mitchell, Olympic College president, testified on the bills before the House Higher Education Committee on Monday (HB 2483) and the Senate Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee on Tuesday (Senate bills 6269 and 6232).

While the three bills are still in flux, Mitchell applauded the bills’ goals and said the CTC system supports a version that would have an independent board select its own executive director, focus on high-level planning, and leave specific strategies to high schools and colleges. “The community and technical college system has worked very well in creating initiatives like the Student Achievement Initiative and I-BEST,” he said. “We wouldn’t want any new entity to compromise the effectiveness of our system.”

SB 6269 is scheduled for executive session in the Senate Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee on Feb. 1.

Senate:  Testimony begins at 1:08 with David Mitchell at 1:48

House: Testimony begins at 1:08 with David Mitchell at :58

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Simplifying higher-ed purchases and reporting

On Tuesday the Senate Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee heard testimony on Senate Bill 6401, which eases competitive-bidding requirements for higher education institutions. Sponsored by Committee Chairman Sen. Rodney Tom, D-Bellevue, the bill would exempt higher education institutions from certain competitive contracting requirements for purchases of $100,000 or less, and personal service contracts of less than $100,000. The bill also authorizes institutions to make advance payments for up to five years for equipment maintenance services; implement compensation changes for certain health care classifications; and make payments of salaries and wages using alternate methods.

David Mitchell, Olympic College president, testified in support of the bill. “I’ve been in the (higher education) system for over 35 years and this may be one of the nicest efficiencies I’ve been able to testify in support of,” he said. But Mitchell also cautioned efficiencies can’t make up for lost state funding. “Efficiencies alone will not give us the type of money that we need to stay afloat. We need more than simple efficiencies.”

House Bill 2585, the companion measure sponsored by Rep. Larry Springer, D-Kirkland, received public testimony on Wednesday before the House Higher Education Committee. Also receiving public testimony was House Bill 2259, sponsored by Rep. Hans Zeiger, R-Puyallup, which would relieve higher education institutions from greenhouse gas reporting requirements in state law.

Deb Merle, SBCTC government relations director spoke in favor of both bills, saying they were a collaborative effort between 4-year institutions and the community and technical college system. “At this point, any way we can save staff time, we’re looking for it. There’s lots to do at our schools and a lot fewer people to do it, so if we can not do duplicative reports, and have a more streamlined procurement process, we can get to the business of helping students.”

Scheduled for executive session in the Senate Committee on Higher Education and Workforce Development on Feb. 1

To watch the Senate Higher Education Committee hearing on TVW, start at :42 on the timeline. David Mitchell starts at 6:20.

To watch the House Higher Education Committee hearing on TVW, start at 45:10 on the timeline.

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Bill proposes at least one member of each trustee board represent labor

The House Higher Education Committee held two public hearings on House Bill 2368, sponsored by Rep. Larry Seaquist, D-Gig Harbor, which would require each community college board of trustees to have one position designated for a labor representative.

Currently, each technical college board of trustees, as well as the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, has a designated position for both labor and business representation. The governor, in making appointments to each community college board, must give consideration to geographical diversity, labor, business, women, and racial and ethnic minorities. If enacted, each successive (new) board appointment would be filled by a labor representative until each board fulfilled the requirement.

Testimony in support b representatives from various state labor councils including AFT Washington, Washington State Labor Council, and the Aerospace Machinists 751.

To watch the Jan. 18 hearing on TVW, start at 1:36 on the timeline (through 30:00)

To watch the Jan. 26 hearing on TVW, first item on the agenda

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Priority registration for veterans proposed

On Monday, the House Higher Education Committee heard testimony on two similar bills. House Bill 2503, prime sponsored by Rep. Drew Hansen, D-Bainbridge Island, requires institutions of higher education to provide early registration for eligible veterans and National Guard members. House Bill 2345, prime sponsored by Rep. Jan Angel, R-Port Orchard, would create a higher education registration priority for eligible veterans, National Guard members, and Reservists.

Current practice allows students with the most credits the opportunity to register first to secure courses needed for timely certificate or degree completion. Changing the process may extend the time it takes to earn a degree if required courses are filled.

Based on input from colleges with concerns, several amendments were made to HB 2503:

• The requirement is only for colleges with an early or priority enrollment system already in place. The Evergreen State College does not offer priority enrollment.
• The amendments limit priority registration to those at the same credit-attainment level to protect time-to-degree for more advanced students. (For example, a college senior who needs one or two more courses to graduate will not be trumped by a freshman veteran student who has more course-taking options.)
• The bill sunsets in 2021.

Scott Copeland, SBCTC policy associate for student services, spoke in support of the substitute language in HB 2503 saying it treats students equally, but gives a leg up to veterans and allows them more flexibility.

David Mitchell, Olympic College president, said about 10 percent of their enrollment is comprised of veterans and their success and progress is an important consideration at Olympic.

Michelle Johnson, Pierce College District chancellor, described the district’s long-standing support of veteran and active-duty education. As one of 15 Centers of Excellence for Veterans Services in the country, they serve the largest number of veteran students in the state.

She said the key to success for veteran students is making sure their pre-registration needs are met – VA funding, advising, and planning – and that the window of priority registration time is often a matter of only a few hours on a specific day.

Paul Francis, Council of Presidents, and Sherry Burkey, Western Washington University associate vice president for university relations and director of legislative relations, also supported the bill.

The bill was scheduled for executive session yesterday in the House Committee on Higher Education, but no action was taken.

To watch hearing on TVW, first item on the agenda, with CTC system representatives beginning at 17:20 on the timeline.

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Senate discusses capital budget

The Senate Ways and Means Committee held a public hearing on Senate Bill 6074 concerning the capital budget.

The governor’s proposal authorizes up to $4 million in financing for renovations at Everett Community College’s Corporate and Continuing Education Building and up to $100 million to replace an inadequate administrative system.

The debt for both of these will be paid from local funds. The proposal also reduces the Everett Index Hall Replacement project by about $600,000 because the construction bid was lower than expected. The Index Hall project is going well, but there is concern the appropriation is being reduced too early.

Three pieces of the system’s request are not in the governor’s proposal:

• Authority to enter into two more financing contracts supported by local funds: joint Cascadia/UW Bothell student union building and an addition at Spokane Community College for their Institute of Extended Learning (being displaced by the WSDOT freeway expansion).
• Authority to enter into a long-term lease for the Aerospace Training Center at Spokane’s International Airport, which the colleges are negotiating with the Spokane Airport Board.

Wayne Doty, SBCTC capital budget director, asked the committee to consider funding additional major projects in prioritized order from our system’s list. He said many of these projects have already been designed and the state can quickly turn that investment that into construction jobs.

Mike Scroggins, SBCTC’s deputy executive director of information technology, described how ctcLink would replace the community and technical college system’s outdated 30-year-old technology platform and made the case for legislative authority to sell bonds through Certificates of Participation.

To watch the testimony on TVW, start at 18:43 on the timeline.

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Update on open education bills

Two open policy bills are directed at higher education and one at K-12.

House Bill 2336/Senate Bill 6460 require a model policy for open licensing of courseware developed with state funds. The original version of this open policy bill, sponsored by Rep. Reuven Carlyle, D-Seattle, requires any educational materials produced with state dollars be made open.

This policy goes further than SBCTC’s open policy (which requires only products of competitive grant money be open) but it otherwise aligns with the system’s work in open resources. The implementation of the bill, however, would be expensive since it requires everything produced with state dollars be posted online within one year. Colleges would incur significant staff costs to make sure all resources made openly available contain only open, non-copyrighted material. A substitute is expected that will remove the posting requirement.

The bills are scheduled for public hearing in the House Education Appropriations and Oversight Committee on January 31.

Senate Bill 6339 requires colleges to designate courses that use open course library materials in course catalogs and bulletins. This bill adds a line to RCW 28B.50.140 that requires CTCs to designate courses that use the Open Course Library in their catalogs and schedules. The goal is to provide students with information about courses that use less expensive open materials; however, the Open Course Library is only one place where faculty might find open materials that save textbook costs for students. SBCTC has not taken a position on this bill. It was passed out of the Senate Higher Education and Workforce committee on January 25.

House Bill 2337 and Senate Bill 6231 divert one-and-a-half percent of funds currently used to buy K-12 textbooks so that K-12 districts can find, develop, and share open textbooks.

K-12 districts could save millions each year over current practice. In addition, open digital textbooks can be updated easily and quickly.

The bill was presented to the House Education Appropriations Committee by Rep. Reuven Carlyle, D-Seattle, and Cable Green, Creative Commons director of global learning. OSPI and the state superintendents gave additional support.

To watch hearing on TVW, begin at 1:24 on the timeline.

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Bill Highlights

Enacting the Educational Success for Youth and Alumni of Foster Care

• House Bill 2254 modifies provisions of the Passport to College Promise program, the College Bound scholarship program, and reporting and other duties of OSPI, DSHS, the office of student financial assistance, and the Education Data Center. Among other things, it would repeal expiration of the Passport to College Promise program.

Online higher education transfer and student advising system

• House Bill 2258 requires the HECB, in conjunction with SBCTC, colleges, the Workforce Board, and the four-year institutions of higher education, to establish and maintain a statewide online transfer and student advising system.

Mandatory advising for all higher education students

• House Bill 2436 requires public institutions of higher education to provide academic advising to students at least once per quarter by September 1, 2012 and when a student has completed 75 percent of the requirements needed to obtain his or her degree or certificate additional advising requirements are added. The bill also requires the successor agency to the Higher Education Coordinating Board, in consultation with the SBCTC, to report on the impact of student advising on student retention and completion by December 1, 2014.

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Students to rally on February 1

Hundreds of students from around the state will converge on Olympia for the 2012 Community College Student Legislative Rally on Wednesday, February 1, from noon to 1 p.m. in the Rotunda.

Students will express their opinions to local legislators and the governor on topics including tuition, textbooks, and cuts to higher education funding.  Last year, nearly 500 students representing 18 community colleges attended.

The program will feature speakers including:

• Student body presidents Dante Obcena, South Seattle Community College, and Lauren Adler, Pierce College Puyallup; student speakers Mike Everroad, Bellingham Technical College, and Nathan Fitzgerald, North Seattle Community College
• Tom Malone, Seattle Community College District Board of Trustees, and presidents Jean Hernandez, Edmonds Community College, and Gerald Pumphrey, South Puget Sound Community College
• Sen. Rodney Tom, Senate Higher Education and Workforce Education Committee chair; Rep. Larry Seaquist, House Higher Education Committee chair; Rep. Larry Haler, House Higher Education Committee ranking minority leader; Sen. Derek Kilmer, Senate Ways and Means vice chair, capital budget
• Leslie Goldstein, governor’s executive policy advisor

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Next week in Legislative News

You will find hearings being tracked for next week in the hearing schedule. Here are a few we expect to highlight in the February 3 edition:

Monday, January 30, 2012

1:30 p.m. - House Higher Education Committee
Hearing Room C, John O’Brien Bldg.
HB 2717 – (Rep. Seaquist) Creating innovations in higher education. (If measure is referred to committee.)

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

10:00 a.m. - Senate Higher Education & Workforce Development CommitteeHearing Room 3, John Cherberg Bldg.

Public Hearing:

1. SB 6460 – (Sen. Tom) Requiring a model policy for open licensing of courseware developed with state funds.
2. SB 6447 – (Sen. Frockt) Regarding state work-study funding.
3. SB 6266 – (Sen. Shin) Creating a statewide database of disability accommodation resources.

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