BILL REQ. #:  H-4771.1 

     AN ACT Relating to establishing the legislative task force on higher education reform; creating new sections; and providing an expiration date.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   (1) The legislature finds that:
     (a) The highest goals of Washington's educational system are: (i) To support the personal development of each person to blossom to their fullest capacity in whatever supportive role they choose to play in society; and (ii) to support our collective development as a society of thoughtful and productive citizens who can critically analyze social problems and work collectively to advance society as a whole;
     (b) Washington's postsecondary education system is one of the best in the world with top apprenticeship programs, a top community and technical college system, a top regional university system, and world class research institutions;
     (c) Washington's postsecondary education system has many conflicting goals that it is structurally incapable of concurrently meeting within the constraint of declining state revenues and state support for the system. It must concurrently maintain the highest quality postsecondary education system in the world, maintain sufficient placement slots for anyone who wants to attend, maintain affordability for anyone who wants to attend, increase degree production, train workers to high levels in "high demand" fields, maintain world class research capacity, and also achieve these goals while declining revenues to the state force funding cuts;
     (d) The many separate administrations among the regional and research institutions lead to excessive administrative inefficiencies, salaries, and overhead costs, as well as a lack of a comprehensive and coordinated systemic approach to their governance;
     (e) Washington's community and technical colleges are extremely efficient at delivering a broad array of workforce training programs, lower division college classes, and campus-based university centers, which provide cost-efficient four-year degrees;
     (f) Lower division classes at research universities are often extremely large, with up to five hundred students in a class, and not a good learning environment for students. In these circumstances, lower division educational quality is sacrificed to subsidize upper division and postgraduate operations; and
     (g) It is time to consider a systemic restructuring to take best advantage of our current postsecondary resources, and to align system structures to achieve multiple goals of accessibility, affordability, quality, efficiency of degree production, and creation of engaged citizens.
     (2) For these reasons, the legislature intends to create a legislative task force on higher education reform for the purpose of examining Washington's postsecondary education system, accounting for available resources within the system, evaluating system goals, evaluating system governance structures, and developing a comprehensive recommendation to the legislature that best achieves system goals simultaneously.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   (1)(a) A legislative task force on higher education reform is established, with members as provided in this subsection.
     (i) The president of the senate shall appoint three voting members of the task force from the senate, which shall include the chair and the ranking member of the senate higher education and workforce development committee.
     (ii) The speaker of the house of representatives shall appoint three voting members of the task force from the house of representatives, which shall include the chair and the ranking member of the house higher education committee.
     (iii) The governor shall appoint five nonvoting members of the task force, which shall represent the office of financial management, the office of the superintendent of public instruction, the state board for community and technical colleges, the office of student achievement, and the workforce training and education coordinating board.
     (b) The task force shall choose its cochairs from among its legislative membership. The chair of the house higher education committee and the chair of the senate higher education and workforce development committee shall convene the initial meeting of the task force.
     (2) The task force shall examine the higher education delivery system to maximize resources and maintain access and quality, and shall review the following issues:
     (a) Whether lower division courses subsidize upper division courses;
     (b) Whether undergraduate programs subsidize graduate programs and research activities;
     (c) Whether community and technical colleges should be the primary or exclusive providers of some or all lower division courses;
     (d) Whether regional universities and the state college should be the primary or exclusive providers of some or all upper division courses;
     (e) Whether state research universities should be the primary or exclusive providers of some or all graduate programs;
     (f) Whether state research universities should be restructured into separate undergraduate and postgraduate institutions;
     (g) The circumstances in which any waivers of the structure outlined in (c) through (f) of this subsection should be provided;
     (h) The merits of modifying the governance of institutions of higher education including, but not limited to, establishing steering committees consisting of deans in place of boards of regents; and
     (i) The efficiencies that may be gained from eliminating duplicative programs.
     (3) Staff support for the task force must be provided by the senate committee services and the house of representatives office of program research.
     (4) Legislative members of the task force must be reimbursed for travel expenses in accordance with RCW 44.04.120. Nonlegislative members, except those representing an employer or organization, are entitled to be reimbursed for travel expenses in accordance with RCW 43.03.050 and 43.03.060.
     (5) The expenses of the task force must be paid jointly by the senate and the house of representatives. Task force expenditures are subject to approval by the senate facilities and operations committee and the house of representatives executive rules committee, or their successor committees.
     (6) The task force shall report its findings and recommendations to the governor, the house higher education committee, and the senate higher education and workforce development committee by December 1, 2012.
     (7) This section expires January 1, 2013.