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 […]
The state’s Economic and Revenue Forecast Council issued a new report today indicating tax collections over the past month have been slightly lower than expected. Collections for the month that ended Thursday were $7.6 million, or 0.7 percent, lower than the forecast in February. Cumulatively, collections are $9.6 million, or 0.3 percent, higher than the […]
Gov. Chris Gregoire this afternoon signed into law the rewrite of the state’s two-year operating budget that was approved by the Legislature last month. The budget was notable for higher education in that it contained no general reductions for the state’s colleges and universities or for student financial aid programs despite another steep budget shortfall. […]
Proving it’s never too early to start worrying about the next state budget, a new report issued this week indicates tax collections for the past month were better than projected. In total, collections are up 1 percent since the February revenue forecast, which the Legislature used to build the supplemental budget approved yesterday. Such reports […]
For the first time in four years the Legislature passed a budget that saves WSU and other higher education institutions from cuts to funding. The budget also allows WSU to grow its engineering program through increased enrollments and to finish construction of the Biomedical and Health Sciences Building in Spokane. President Floyd highlights the events […]