Governor's proposed budget cuts higher education a break
Elliot Greisen | Staff Writer
Issue date: 1/16/09 Section: News
As forecasts for the state budget continue to spell doom and gloom for our state, students caught a break in the Governor's budget that was released mid-December.
Gov. Christine Gregoire released her budget in mid-December with only a six percent or $110 million cut in state funding for community and technical colleges instead of the 20 percent that was anticipated. She also authorized a 10 percent raise in tuition over the next two years that would amount to $35 million instead of the proposed 14 percent. The tuition increases would help to offset the hardship caused by the budget cuts. The governors' office spared the community colleges because they traditionally get the burden of retraining laid-off workers.
Each budget is larger than the next because of raises and other increases that are expected. One way to help solve the budget crisis is to not give the expected raises, but to just operate on the same budget as last year. This is part of the Governor's plan. She has placed a hold on budgeted raises.
The Governor's budget also relies heavily on the use of the rainy day fund and federal money to the tune of one billion. These are not permanent fixes but rather stop gaps. The problem with these fixes are that if the federal money doesn't come in or is less than expected, the state may be forced to cut more from the budget. This would put pressure to cut the community college's budgets, as they are one of the largest pools of money not protected by a state or federal mandate.
The budget also anticipates a five percent growth during the second year. This means that state revenue would increases five percent during the second year of the budget cycle. If the economy stays slow and does not rapidly pick up we could also be looking at another round of cuts to the budget as we scramble to save money.
This budget is good news for EvCC. Instead of having to drop five million from their budget the number will be more around two million. EvCC is already thinking of ways to chop the budget as they have been instructed to reduce the budget by five percent for the current budget cycle.
Gov. Christine Gregoire released her budget in mid-December with only a six percent or $110 million cut in state funding for community and technical colleges instead of the 20 percent that was anticipated. She also authorized a 10 percent raise in tuition over the next two years that would amount to $35 million instead of the proposed 14 percent. The tuition increases would help to offset the hardship caused by the budget cuts. The governors' office spared the community colleges because they traditionally get the burden of retraining laid-off workers.
Each budget is larger than the next because of raises and other increases that are expected. One way to help solve the budget crisis is to not give the expected raises, but to just operate on the same budget as last year. This is part of the Governor's plan. She has placed a hold on budgeted raises.
The Governor's budget also relies heavily on the use of the rainy day fund and federal money to the tune of one billion. These are not permanent fixes but rather stop gaps. The problem with these fixes are that if the federal money doesn't come in or is less than expected, the state may be forced to cut more from the budget. This would put pressure to cut the community college's budgets, as they are one of the largest pools of money not protected by a state or federal mandate.
The budget also anticipates a five percent growth during the second year. This means that state revenue would increases five percent during the second year of the budget cycle. If the economy stays slow and does not rapidly pick up we could also be looking at another round of cuts to the budget as we scramble to save money.
This budget is good news for EvCC. Instead of having to drop five million from their budget the number will be more around two million. EvCC is already thinking of ways to chop the budget as they have been instructed to reduce the budget by five percent for the current budget cycle.
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