The long line of hat-in-hand agencies making financial pleas to the state government is starting to look more like a mourners’ march.
Unlike legislators who have to balance budgets in the worst of economic times, each agency preaches a provincial sermon. Years ago, each plea was for growth. Before the state confronted repeated record deficits, each argument was persuasive. These days, though, each mournful message is about singular survival. No one will say where the state should cut spending. They say that’s not their job, that their duty is to advocate, not prioritize. Just don’t, each group begs, cut us.
Higher education leaders in the state present a more sophisticated and compelling case. The bulk of their argument is based on a percentage, more so than dollar amounts. According to a Wednesday story by The Columbian’s Howard Buck, legislators will be asked to keep higher education funding at about 10 percent of the state’s general fund.
That’s highly reasonable. When you consider the values and priorities of Washingtonians, spending one-tenth of the state’s general fund on colleges and universities seems just about right. But a closer inspection of this request reveals how truly calamitous economic times have become for higher education in our state.
First, we’re talking about 10 percent of a shrinking pie, as explained Tuesday at a meeting of the 10-member Higher Education Coordinating Board. Gathering at Washington State University Vancouver, the HEC Board adopted a two-year, $3.34 billion budget plan. Charley Bingham, head of the board’s fiscal committee, noted: “We are painfully aware this budget is a disaster: It does not meet the human and economic needs of this state, by far … by far.”
Second, keep in mind that, for 23 years, higher education’s pie piece has averaged about 12 percent, sometimes reaching as high as 16 percent. This leads us to believe the HEC Board is more than willing to shoulder its share of the burden through the economic crisis.
Also critical in this equation is the fact that 2,741 state-funded enrollment slots have been cut since 2009. Plus, tuition increases continue to intimidate recent high school graduates and older second-career searchers.
Then, consider also that only 77 percent of enrolled students who are eligible for state financial aid are receiving it, and that’s down from 98 percent in 2009. To its credit, the board wants to increase financial aid by $32.9 million, hoping to help 4,400 of the estimated 18,000 students who are eligible for Need Grants but are not receiving the aid.
Finally, strengthening the HEC Board’s request is the documented impact higher education has far beyond classrooms and campuses. State and regional economies, especially, depend on a sustained emphasis on higher education. That’s the foundation of a qualified work force. Traditionally, our state’s great jobs providers have been the big dogs — Microsoft, Boeing and many others — that have enough bark to recruit tech-savvy talent from out of state or overseas. But now, the path to economic recovery is traveled mostly by small or medium-sized companies that are more dependent on local work forces and, thus, local and state education levels.
The Legislature must take great interest in the wisdom and rationale of the HEC Board’s budget request. Ten percent of the pie. Eminently fair.
