It is the policy of the state of Washington that the essential requirements level budget calculation for state institutions of higher education include a funding level per full-time equivalent student that is, each biennium, at a minimum, equal to the general fund—state and tuition fund rate per student assumed in the omnibus appropriations act for the last fiscal year of the previous biennium for the state-funded programs, minus one-time expenditures and plus an inflation factor. The inflation factor should be equivalent to the inflation factor used to calculate basic education in the common school system budget request submitted by the governor.