BILL REQ. #:  S-0844.1 

Read first time 01/29/13.   Referred to Committee on Higher Education.

     AN ACT Relating to establishing the educational achievement and tuition reduction incentive program; adding a new section to chapter 28B.15 RCW; creating new sections; and providing an expiration date.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   After years of eroding state support for Washington's public postsecondary baccalaureate institutions, the legislature intends to reassert the strong tradition of higher education as a public good, recognizing that Washington's postsecondary educational system was founded with a public mission and that a robust public postsecondary educational system benefits Washingtonians throughout the state. The legislature intends to reverse the recent trends of underfunding public higher education and embark on a new policy that simultaneously strives for open access and excellence in Washington's public higher education system.
     The legislature also recognizes that the individual and combined success of the people of Washington, and in turn the vitality of business across our state, rely overwhelmingly on the quality of the state's higher education system. The legislature further recognizes that by 2018 it is estimated that nearly seventy percent of jobs in Washington will require some postsecondary education. Yet, the state is currently investing less in its public baccalaureate institutions than twenty years ago.      
     Therefore, the legislature finds that after years of compounding cuts to Washington's public higher education system that have hurt students, families, faculty, and the institutions, it is time to make tuition affordable for all Washingtonians while simultaneously stopping the disinvestment in our world-class colleges and universities. To do this, the legislature intends to create an incentive funding structure that encourages institutions to hold the line on tuition increases, while also using data on existing performance metrics to help drive student success throughout the postsecondary educational system. The legislature does not intend to overburden the institutions with additional reporting requirements, but intends for the institutions to better use the existing reporting system in order to achieve the state's overarching policy goals for higher education. Recognizing that top-notch faculty and institutions must have the resources necessary to maintain quality educational programs that will provide tremendous value to the public and will keep Washington competitive for decades to come, it is the intent of the legislature that any funding appropriated for the incentive funding structure be appropriated in addition to institutions' baseline biennial appropriations.
     The legislature also intends to create a task force to begin work on an incentive funding model based on the accountability monitoring and reporting system established in chapter 10, Laws of 2011 1st sp. sess.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 28B.15 RCW to read as follows:
     The educational achievement and tuition reduction incentive program is established to provide new incentive funding to four-year institutions of higher education that demonstrate improvement on existing performance measures and to control resident undergraduate tuition growth. The voluntary program includes, but is not limited to, the following components:
     (1) A system for allocating new state resources to institutions based on an institution's:
     (a) Performance under the incentive program; and
     (b) Control of resident undergraduate tuition growth;
     (2) Performance metrics based on the reporting requirements established in RCW 28B.77.090;
     (3) Measurement of each institution's performance in relation to its own past performance in order to preserve each school's unique mission; and
     (4) Investment of unallocated incentive funds to the state need grant program to expand access to low-income and underserved students.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   (1) The office of financial management shall convene a technical incentive funding model task force to design an incentive funding model to support the incentive program created in section 2 of this act. The model must incorporate the components of the incentive program.
     (2) The task force must include the following members:
     (a) One representative from the student achievement council;
     (b) One representative from the education data center created in RCW 43.41.400; and
     (c) One representative from each four-year institution of higher education as defined in RCW 28B.10.016.
     (3)(a) The office of financial management shall submit a preliminary report to the governor and appropriate committees of the legislature by December 1, 2013.
     (b) The office of financial management shall submit a final report containing an incentive funding model to support the incentive program in section 2 of this act to the governor and appropriate committees of the legislature by September 1, 2014.
     (4) This section expires August 1, 2015.