This week, the presidents from Washington state’s community and technical colleges are meeting on the Kirkland campus of Lake Washington Institute of Technology for a Washington Association of Community and Technical College (WACTC) president’s meeting. The primary agenda item is filling critical state funding gaps for our community and technical college system.
After three special sessions that ended last July, the Washington state legislature approved its 2015-2017 operating budget. While those of us who work within the state Community and Technical College System were pleased that tuition was reduced by five-percent for our students, and that the state funded cost of living adjustments for our staff (the first increase since 2008), the final budget didn’t include enough money to offset that. In fact, it only funded 83-percent of those cost of living adjustments, and left the colleges short by 17 percent. The final state budget also didn’t cover lost revenue in our applied bachelor’s degree programs. So, while it looks like our state community and technical colleges received additional support for our students and staff, we in fact are still facing budget cuts, on top of all of the cuts the colleges have endured over the past several years.
There are 34 community and technical colleges in Washington state, and combined we are facing a budget shortfall of $10.9 million through just the funding gap for the cost of living adjustments, and an additional $1.98 million funding gap from the tuition reduction.
As the chairs of the legislative and capital committees that represent the Washington Association of Community and Technical Colleges, we, along with our fellow presidents, are committed to working with our state legislators to find a way to backfill these budget gaps. If they aren’t closed, our colleges will have to look at additional cuts to important workforce education and transfer programs.
As our legislators prepare for the upcoming short session, we encourage them to adjust the operating budget, making our colleges whole. Without that, the impact will not only be felt on our campuses by our students, but also throughout our communities.
Our economy is strong, and at a time when employers are in desperate need of a trained workforce, we are in an uncomfortable position of not being able to respond fully to those needs. Without additional funding, we won’t be able to expand our program offerings in high-demand areas, and will be at risk of cutting programs, preventing us from responding to the needs of our communities.
While we appreciate our hardworking legislators and the time and effort they put in during the legislative sessions last year, more needs to be done. Our state community and technical colleges provide a critical path for students to get an education, and directly enter the workforce. Without additional funding from the state legislature, all of our communities are at risk of feeling the economic impact for years to come.
Dr. Amy Morrison Goings is the president of Lake Washington Institute of Technology in Kirkland and Dr. Eric Murray is the president of Cascadia College in Bothell.
