5781-S

AN ACT Relating to higher education; amending RCW 28B.15.515; adding new sections to chapter 28B.10 RCW; creating a new section; providing an effective date; and declaring an emergency.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that there is increasing need for postsecondary educational opportunities for citizens of the state of Washington. The legislature also finds that in the past twelve years postsecondary educational opportunities have been severely restricted by state budget policy. The proportion of the state budget dedicated to postsecondary educational programs has continued to decrease and, subsequently, the opportunity for this state's citizens to participate in such programs has also declined. At the same time, major technological, economic, and demographic changes have exacerbated the need for improved training and education to maintain a high-quality, competitive work force, and a well-educated populace to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. The legislature finds that this state has not fulfilled its responsibility to provide sufficient opportunity, commensurate with the dramatic growth in this state's population, for its citizens to engage in the postsecondary educational programs that are necessary for their personal and professional improvement and this state's economic vitality.

Therefore, the legislature declares that the policy of the state of Washington shall be to improve the access to, and quality of, this state's postsecondary educational system. The budgetary policy of the state of Washington shall be to provide a level of protection and commitment to the state's postsecondary educational system commensurate with the responsibility of this state to the educational and professional improvement of its citizens and work force.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. It is the policy of the state of Washington that funding for the state institutions of higher education, provided in the omnibus appropriations act, shall ensure adequate resources to maintain a state-funded full-time equivalent participation rate at a minimum of the participation rate funded in the last fiscal year of the previous biennium beginning with the 1993 fiscal year. The participation rate shall be based on the state's estimated population between the ages of seventeen and forty-four.

The funding level per full-time equivalent enrollment established for this minimum number of full-time equivalent students shall, each biennium, be equal to the rate assumed in the omnibus appropriations act for the last fiscal year of the previous biennium plus an inflation factor for, at a minimum, the instructional program, primary support program, and library program that is equivalent to the inflation factor used to calculate basic education in the common school system budget request submitted by the governor.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. In addition to the minimum participation rate established in section 2 of this act, it is the policy of the state of Washington to achieve the goal of reaching the ninetieth percentile in national participation rates system-wide, excepting work force training, by the year 2010. This shall be accomplished by increasing enrollments, in addition to any increases required by section 2 of this act, in regular increments each biennium in order to remain on target to achieve this goal by the end of the 2009-11 biennium. Pursuant to section 4 of this act, the higher education coordinating board shall regularly calculate the additional enrollments necessary each biennium to achieve the purposes of this section.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. Formal estimates of the state participation rates necessary to fulfill the requirements of sections 2 and 3 of this act will be determined by the higher education coordinating board, in conjunction with the office of financial management, based upon state population statistics provided by the office of financial management. Estimates of additional or increased full-time equivalent enrollments required by sections 2 and 3 of this act for each succeeding budget period shall be reported by the higher education coordinating board to the office of financial management and the legislature by April 1st of each even-numbered year. As a part of this report, the higher education coordinating board shall provide separate estimates of the additional enrollments necessary each biennium to remain on target to achieve the enrollment goal established in section 3 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. It is the policy of the state of Washington that the state institutions of higher education have full authority to use innovative approaches to increase the enrollment level of their institutions. The provisions of sections 2 and 3 of this act are used to calculate a minimum state-funded enrollment level, however each institution has the authority and flexibility to increase the actual level of enrollment from this minimum that it will maintain during any fiscal year. The level of state-funded enrollment that is adopted under sections 2 and 3 of this act is not an enrollment limit or restriction upon an institution of higher education. The state institutions of higher education are encouraged to deploy or redeploy their existing resources to increase access to their institutions if it does not result in a reduction in direct instructional services to students.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. It is the policy of the state of Washington that financial need not be a barrier to participation in the state higher education system. Funding for student financial aid in each omnibus appropriations act shall, at a minimum, be equal to the amount provided in the previous biennium adjusted for increases in the state-funded full-time equivalent enrollment level pursuant to sections 2 and 3 of this act and increases in the cost of attendance as calculated by the higher education coordinating board. The higher education coordinating board shall provide these calculations to the office of financial management and the legislature by April 1st of each even-numbered year.

Sec. 7. RCW 28B.15.515 and 1991 c 353 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The boards of trustees of the community college districts may operate summer schools on either a self-supporting or a state-funded basis.

If summer school is operated on a self-supporting basis, the fees charged shall be retained by the colleges, and shall be sufficient to cover the direct costs, which are instructional salaries and related benefits, supplies, publications, and records.

Community colleges that have self-supporting summer schools shall continue to receive general fund state support for vocational programs that require that students enroll in a four quarter sequence of courses that includes summer quarter due to clinical or laboratory requirements and for ungraded courses limited to adult basic education, vocational apprenticeship, aging and retirement, small business management, industrial first aid, and parent education.

(2)((~~(a)~~)) The board of trustees of a community college district may permit the district's state-funded, full-time equivalent enrollment level, as provided in the operating budget appropriations act, to vary ((~~by plus or minus two percent each fiscal year unless otherwise authorized in the operating budget appropriations act~~)). If the variance is above the state-funded level, the district may charge those students above the state-funded level a fee equivalent to the amount of tuition and fees that are charged students enrolled in state-funded courses. These fees shall be retained by the colleges.

((~~(b) Any community college that in 1990‑91 has an enrollment above the state-funded level but below the authorized variance may increase its excess enrollments to within the variance.~~

(c) Community colleges that currently have excess enrollments more than the authorized variance, by means of enrollments that would have otherwise been eligible for state funding, shall reduce those excess enrollments to within the authorized variance by September 1, 1995, in at least equal annual reductions, commencing with the 1991‑92 fiscal year.

(d) Except as permitted by (c) of this subsection, should the number of student-supported, full-time equivalent enrollments in any fiscal year fall outside the authorized variance, the college shall return by September 1st to the state general fund, an amount equal to the college's full average state appropriations per full-time equivalent student for such student-funded full-time equivalent outside the variance, unless otherwise provided in the operating budget appropriations act.))

(3) The state board for community and technical colleges ((~~education~~)) shall ensure compliance with this section.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. Sections 2 through 6 of this act are each added to chapter 28B.10 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and shall take effect July 1, 1993.