HOUSE BILL REPORT

RESB 5475

BYSenators Gaspard, West, Tanner, Rinehart, Bauer, Williams, Bender, Moore, Talmadge and Saling; by request of Office of Governor

Establishing the Washington fund for excellence in higher education program.

House Committe on Higher Education

Majority Report:  Do pass with amendments.  (11)

      Signed by Representatives Jacobsen, Chair; Heavey, Vice Chair; Basich, Fox, Jesernig, Miller, Nelson, Prince, Silver, Unsoeld and K. Wilson.

House Staff:Susan Hosch (786-7210)

AS REPORTED BY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION FEBRUARY 17, 1988

BACKGROUND:

In 1986 and 1987 numerous national studies offered recommendations to improve higher education.  Two of those reports, produced by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, specifically recommended increasing support for enhancing undergraduate education and encouraging educational innovation in this nation's colleges and universities.  In this state, the Washington Roundtable and the Higher Education Coordinating Board also approved recommendations to increase funding to improve the quality of higher education and encourage institutional innovation.

In 1987 Governor Booth Gardner forwarded a $5 million request to establish a competitive award program to encourage innovative instruction and improve the quality of public higher education.  This request was first reduced to $1 million, and finally, eliminated altogether in the final 1987-89 biennial budget.

SUMMARY:

BILL AS AMENDED: The Washington Fund for Excellence in Higher Education program is established.  The program will award grants to state colleges and universities for improving the quality of education.  These grants may be awarded in response to proposals for improving the quality of undergraduate instruction, curriculum development, assessment, recruitment and retention of targeted populations, cooperation between the academic and business communities, and articulation between the two-year and four-year institutions.

The program will be administered by the Higher Education Coordinating Board.  The board may receive and solicit grants for the program from public and private sources.  The board will adopt necessary program rules; establish screening committees to evaluate proposals; publish evaluation criteria; solicit grant proposals; and establish reporting, evaluation, and monitoring requirements for grant recipients.

The board will establish annual guidelines for submitting grant proposals.  For the 1987-89 biennium these guidelines must be consistent with the following goals: improving the quality of undergraduate education; improving minority recruitment and retention; developing curriculum to enhance international awareness; and creating programs that will improve a student's ability to succeed in a competitive economy while meeting the changing needs of the business community.  The board must report on the program biennially to the governor and the House and Senate committees on higher education.

Monies in the fund will be administered by the state treasurer.  The fund is subject to the Office of Financial Management's allotment procedure, but no appropriation is required for disbursements.

AMENDED BILL COMPARED TO REENGROSSED BILL: The board must establish evaluation criteria for grant recipients.  Biennial reports to the governor and the House and Senate committees on Higher Education are required instead of annual reports to the governor and the House and Senate Higher Education and Ways & Means committees.

Fiscal Note:      Requested February 18, 1988.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:    None Presented.

House Committee - Testified Against:      None Presented.

House Committee - Testimony For:    None Presented.

House Committee - Testimony Against:      None Presented.