OLYMPIA — Debates on the dirt and the dollars for a proposed university in Snohomish County are heating up this week.
This morning, legislation that would establish a University of Washington branch campus in Everett is expected to clear its first hurdle and earn passage by the House Higher Education Committee.
The same panel, however, is not scheduled to vote on a bill intended to steer the selection to Marysville.
While those discussions on where to build advance, the political conversation on how to pay for the college took an unexpected turn Tuesday.
A House budget subcommittee rejected the governor’s request to spend $1.1 million to launch the college this fall.
Instead, the panel earmarked the money to increase enrollment at community and technical colleges in Snohomish, Island and Skagit counties. The two-year schools did not request the money.
That decision by the Democratic-controlled House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education marked the first visible sign lawmakers are feeling a bit cool toward a new university campus in Snohomish County.
Rep. Kathy Haigh, D-Shelton, the committee chairwoman, said she decided to shift the funding until it’s clearer if a new UW campus will win legislative backing.
“We’re not absolutely sure we can get the money to buy the land and do the building,” Haigh said. “And when issues are very controversial at the local level, the tendency I’ve found is the Legislature comes to a freeze. I have trouble believing we are going to make the decision one way or the other this legislative session,” she said.
Reps. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish, and Mike Sells, D- Everett, said Wednesday the subcommittee action should not be overlooked or overstated.
“It’s a wound, but it’s not a killer,” Dunshee said.
Sells said “it’s a fluid situation. To assume that it means something before the end of session is premature.”
Recommendations from Haigh’s committee will be considered when the House budget is crafted by the leader of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Helen Sommers, D-Seattle. Dunshee is vice chairman of the committee.
“I’ll be working hard to restore the money,” Dunshee said. The House budget is tentatively due out the week of Feb. 18.
Sells pointed out the money is still in place for higher education in the three-county region.
“It could have been gone,” he said. “We have to find a way to get it back to where we’d like it to be, which ties into what policy bill we pass.”
Sells, Dunshee and other legislators in the House and Senate pushing for the university campus are finding their colleagues unsure of the need and nervous about the costs of the project.
Last year they did pony up $4 million to lay the groundwork and get estimates on the price tag.
Of that amount, $1 million went to a consultant who analyzed dozens of potential sites for a campus with a presumed population of 5,000 students in 20 years. The report issued in November ranked 27 acres surrounding Everett Station and 396 acres on the edge of Marysville as the best options.
That same report laid out some rough estimates of money needed to buy land and build buildings to serve the students. The figure — roughly $850 million — caused a lot of concern among lawmakers, especially those with two- and four-year institutions in their districts.
Dunshee and Sells said they are trying to send the message that this branch campus will grow slowly, as did its predecessors in Tacoma and Bothell.
They said those in the community who want a university branch must let legislators know, regardless of their position in the turf battle between the Everett and Marysville sites.
“Everybody down here in the delegation needs to up their energy level,” Dunshee said. “People fighting about the site need to be putting a little more effort into getting it done.”
Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson said the funding shift “is a sign of legitimate concern but I don’t see it as a deal breaker for creating this university.
“The angst about funding higher education is real. I understand it,” he said. “The fundamental question we hope is answered is: Will the state step up and meet a need for higher education that is not being met today.”
Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfieldheraldnet.com.
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