WASHINGTON STATE Gov. Christine Gregoire has a novel way to "transform" higher education--by cutting the actual funding needed to sustain it.
As the Seattle Post-Intelligencer recently noted, in early June, Gregoire was scheduled to appear at Cleveland High School in Seattle with representatives from Microsoft and Boeing to sign four higher-education related bills:
The governor's office sent out an advisory saying she'll "take action on several bills that will transform higher education in Washington state. After Gregoire acts on the bills, (Microsoft and Boeing leaders) will speak to the audience of students about the importance of education."
The bills will transform higher education all right. One of them, House Bill 1795, allows the state's universities and colleges to set their own tuition rates (previously that authority rested with the Legislature). At [the University of Washington] and [Washington State University], that means at least 16 percent annual tuition hikes for the next several years. That's on top of big recent increases. Resident tuition for this academic year at UW was $8,701; it was $3,761 10 years ago.
HB 1795 is necessary because the legislature passed and Gregoire signed a two-year state budget that eliminates a half-billion dollars (that's billion with a "B") in-state support for higher education.
In return for the power to name their price, the state's schools have agreed to admit more in-state freshmen and to provide more financial aid to middle-class students. Gregoire will also attach her signature to HB 2088. That's the mechanism by which some of this extra aid money, from a combination of public and private sources, is supposed to come. However it's somewhat light on concrete details. It's basically a "the check is in the mail" measure.
Another bill Gregoire will sign, Senate Bill 5182, eliminates the Higher Education Coordinating Board. That panel was created 25 years ago to set higher education policy and provide unvarnished, independent analysis and advice. It will be replaced by a new panel that reports directly to the governor--so much for independence.
Appearing with Gregoire...will be Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, and Boeing Vice President Laura Peterson. They're the ones who will speak about the importance of higher education.
Indeed, those two companies, which employ thousands of well-educated, smart people, have been pressuring Olympia for years to make higher education a priority. But at the same time, they've been railing against new taxes--they apparently think Olympia can adequately pay for a top-notch higher education system on positive thoughts and good cheer. The Daily Beast recently listed Microsoft and Boeing as being among the nation's top 15 corporate tax dodgers.
And the two companies were among those formally opposing Initiative 1098, the measure voters defeated last year which would've imposed an income tax on the wealthy to pay for education.
You've got to admire the chutzpah.
