BILL REQ. #:  S-3547.1 

Read first time 01/15/14.   Referred to Committee on Higher Education.

     AN ACT Relating to establishing an incentive-based methodology of distributing state appropriations to public four-year institutions of higher education; amending RCW 28B.15.101; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that a robust public postsecondary educational system benefits Washingtonians throughout the state, and that the individual and combined success of the people of Washington, and in turn the vitality of business across the state, rely overwhelmingly on the quality and efficiency of the state's higher education system.
     The legislature recognizes that there is currently an estimated gap of twenty-five thousand skilled workers in Washington, eighty percent of whom are in high-demand fields, and that this gap is projected to double by 2017. The legislature further recognizes that filling the job skills gap by 2017 could result in one hundred sixty thousand new jobs in the state. As a result, the legislature finds that the statewide goals of public institutions of higher education are to: (1) Increase total degree production; (2) increase degree production in high-demand fields of study; and (3) increase degree production for underrepresented student populations.
     Therefore, it is the intent of the legislature to create an incentive funding structure that encourages student success through the postsecondary educational system. To do this, it is the intent of the legislature that a state funding enhancement equal to no less than twenty-five million dollars each fiscal year be available for distribution to the public four-year institutions of higher education based on their performance in meeting the statewide goals. It is the intent of the legislature that this funding enhancement be an addition to the baseline budgets of public four-year institutions of higher education and that, in subsequent fiscal years, this amount will be redistributed to the public four-year institutions of higher education based on their performance in meeting the statewide goals.

Sec. 2   RCW 28B.15.101 and 2011 1st sp.s. c 10 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:
     (((1) To ensure institutional quality, promote access, and advance the public mission of the state universities, the regional universities, and The Evergreen State College, the authority to increase or decrease tuition rates shall be considered within the context of performance-based measures and goals for each state university, regional university, and The Evergreen State College. By September 1, 2011, and September 1st every two years thereafter, the state universities, the regional universities, and The Evergreen State College shall each negotiate an institutional performance plan with the office of financial management that includes expected outcomes that must be achieved by each institution in the subsequent biennium.
     (2) At a minimum, an individual institutional performance plan must include but is not limited to the following expected outcomes:
     (a) Time and credits to degree;
     (b) Retention and success of students from low-income, diverse, or underrepresented communities;
     (c) Baccalaureate degree production for resident students; and
     (d) Degree production in high-employer demand programs of study and critical state need areas.)) It is the policy of the state of Washington that incentive funding appropriated in the omnibus appropriations act shall be distributed to the public four-year institutions of higher education as specified in the omnibus appropriations act and shall be based on an institution's performance in relation to its own past performance using a three-year average in the following metrics:
     (1) Number of degrees produced;
     (2) Number of high-demand degrees produced; and
     (3) Number of degrees awarded to underrepresented students.