Washington’s public four-year baccalaureate institutions have each had two chances to exercise their tuition setting authority as provided under 2011’s House Bill 1795. So what’s the impact been so far? As outlined this week to the House Education Approprations Committee by Paul Francis from the Council of Presidents, tuition setting authority has not only not […]
The latest quarterly revenue forecast of state tax collections projects a slight increase in expected collections for the current budget cycle as well as the next two-year budget cycle, compared to the previous quarterly forecast in June. The Economic and Revenue Forecast Council released the September quarterly report yesterday projecting an increase of $29 million […]
State revenues are as flat as flat can be with a new quarterly forecast due out next week. A new report Tuesday indicates that collections for the month ending Sept. 10 were just $1.1 million below expectations. Total tax collections since the last quarterly forecast are $20.8 million above expectations. That’s six-tenths of 1 percent. […]
An editorial published by The Seattle Times last Saturday calls on Washington leaders to improve Washington’s education system by expanding the state’s educational vision beyond the K-12 years. You can find the editorial here. Citing major reductions made to state colleges and universities, the editorial pushes the need for a “3-23” approach to education in […]
The Seattle Times published an editorial Sunday evening stating the need for more college degrees to fill both opening and existing jobs in Washington. A study by the Brookings Institution of 100 metropolitan cities, that included Seattle, suggested that job seekers do not have the qualifications to fill jobs requiring a higher education. In 2011, […]
A new forecast of demand for state services has added $56 million to the state’s bottom line for the rest of the current two-year budget cycle. That helps to pad the state’s rather small unrestricted budget reserve and continue to promote the kind of budget stabilization witnessed in 2012 on the heels of a deep […]
A new quarterly forecast of state tax collections projects a small decline in anticipated tax collections when compared to expectations when a rewrite of the state’s two-year budget was approved this spring. Issued this morning by the state’s Economic and Revenue Forecast Council, the report projects revenue to increase for both the current budget cycle […]
Washington State University President Elson Floyd, in a column published Sunday in the Everett Herald, heralded higher education’s “watershed year” in Olympia and said that it’s time to move on from the reset that has occurred over the past five years. “What’s done is done,” he wrote. You can find the column here. In it, […]
A new report out this week continues to show state revenues coming in almost exactly as predicted. Collections were actually up by $15.1 million, but that was driven entirely by one-time events and other noneconomic factors. Since the February revenue forecast, collections are $24.8 million higher. That’s one half of 1 percent. The next forecast […]
The Seattle Times this morning outlines the anticipated ramp up in the production of engineering degrees at WSU and the University of Washington as a result of language in the state budget. You can find the story here. The two research universities were approached by the governor last year in hopes of bolstering the number […]