WSU Senior Director of State Relations Chris Mulick testified on the governor’s proposed operating budget at two hearings last week, flagging concerns about compensation but praising investments in nursing, public health and energy research.
WSU urges the legislature to support the University’s top priority – cost-of-living adjustments for faculty, staff and graduate students. In his testimony, Mulick pointed out “the funding in this budget is sufficient to provide COLAs of just 2.5 percent and 1.3 percent for fiscal year 2024 and fiscal year 2025.” He further clarified the delta between that and the 4 percent and 3 percent advertised in budget documents is “explained by the assumption that there will be new tuition revenue to cover that gap. Unfortunately that tuition revenue is just not there.”
The governor’s proposed operating budget would include support for nursing reaccreditation, establish a new bachelor’s degree program in public health, covers maintenance and operations of the Vancouver Life Sciences Building, a new energy research center at WSU Tri-Cities and provides funds to enhance core support for Ruckelshaus Center among other proposals.
Washington State University has identified cost-of-living adjustments for faculty, staff and graduate students as its top priority in advance of the 2023 legislative session and has submitted a number of other requests to support high demand degree production and the university’s physical infrastructure. You can find WSU’s 2023 legislative agenda here.
You can find WSU’s testimony on the governor’s operating budget below.