FINAL BILL REPORT

SHB 1013

C 169 L 99

Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description: Changing the goals and priorities for grants under the Washington fund for innovation and quality education program.

Sponsors: By House Committee on Higher Education (Originally sponsored by Representatives Carlson, Radcliff, Dunn and Sheahan).

House Committee on Higher Education

House Committee on Appropriations

Senate Committee on Higher Education

Background:

The 1991 Legislature established the Washington Fund for Excellence in Higher Education program. The purpose of the program is to encourage institutions of higher education to develop innovative and collaborative solutions to critical, statewide educational challenges facing the state. The Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB) is responsible for administering the program. When funding is available, the board is to provide two-year grants on a competitive basis to public colleges or consortia of colleges. To date, the program has not received funding.

The 1991 act specified three issues of critical statewide need:

$improving rates of participation and completion at each educational level;

$recognizing needs of special populations of students; and

$improving the effectiveness of education by better coordinating communication and understanding between sectors.

The 1991 act also specified the priority guidelines for grants that might be awarded for the 1991-93 biennium. It then assigned to the HECB, with the assistance of a review committee, the responsibility for establishing specific grant priority guidelines for each subsequent biennium.

The original priority guidelines set forth for the 1991-93 biennium included:

$minority and diversity initiatives that encourage the participation of minorities in higher education, including students with disabilities, at a rate consistent with their proportion within the population;

$K-12 teacher preparation models that encourage collaboration between higher education and K-12 to improve the preparedness of teachers, including provisions for higher education faculty involved with teacher preparation to spend time teaching in K-12 schools; and

$Articulation and transfer activities to smooth the transfer of students from K-12 to higher education, or from the community colleges and technical colleges to four-year institutions.

The 1996 Legislature modified the program by renaming it the Washington Fund for Innovation and Quality in Higher Education program and by specifying grant priority guidelines for the 1995-97 biennium.

The priority guidelines set forth for the 1995-97 biennium included the three from the 1991-93 biennium and added the following:

$multi-institutional or multi-faculty development and evaluation of:

(1)collaborative instructional programs involving K-12, community and technical colleges, and four-year institutions of higher education to develop a three-year degree program or to reduce the time to degree;

(2)instructional technology and multimedia curricular projects; and

(3) a degree offered entirely on the internet;

$individual institutional or faculty pilot projects to:

(1)improve efficiency by 5 percent per year in cost or graduation rate;

(2)improve student retention;

(3)develop competencies and outcomes for general education or university requirements and degree programs;

(4)contract with public or private institutions or businesses to provide services or the development of collaborative programs; and

$other innovative proposals.

Summary:

The original (1991) issues of critical statewide need are replaced with the following issues:

$recognizing needs of special populations of students;

$furthering the development of learner-centered, technology-assisted course delivery;

$furthering the development of competency-based measurements of student achievement to be used as the basis for awarding degrees and certificates; and

$increasing the collaboration among both public and private sector institutions of higher education.

The priority guidelines specified (in 1996) for the 1995-97 biennium are replaced with the following guidelines for the 1999-01 biennium:

$minority and diversity initiatives that encourage the participation of minorities in higher education, including students with disabilities;

$collaborative instructional programs involving K-12, community and technical colleges, and four-year institutions of higher education to develop a three-year degree program or to reduce the time to degree;

$contracts with public or private institutions or businesses to provide services or the development of collaborative programs;

$articulation and transfer activities to smooth the transfer of students from K-12 to higher education, or from the community and technical colleges to four-year institutions;

$projects that further the development of learner-centered, technology-assisted course delivery; and

$projects that further the development of competency-based measurements of student achievement to be used as the basis for awarding degrees and certificates.

The administration of the program is restructured by establishing two funds: one administered by the HECB and one administered by the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC). The HECB is responsible for proposals in which a four-year institution of higher education is named as the lead institution, and the SBCTC is responsible for proposals in which a community or technical college is named as the lead institution. Both boards are required to have representatives from both the four-year and two-year sectors on their respective grant review committees.

September 1 is the deadline for awarding grants in those years when funding is made available by June 30.

Votes on Final Passage:

House915

Senate490

Effective:July 25, 1999