OLYMPIA – Area leaders Thursday heaped praised on legislation aimed at expediting development of an independent four-year university serving Snohomish, Island and Skagit counties.
Elected officials and business leaders of the region embraced the bill, which seeks to figure out possible locations for a college and a plan for running it once it opens. The bill, written by state Sen. Jean Berkey, D-Everett, sets a Dec. 1 deadline.
“This legislation provides a direct path from studies and analysis done last session to purchase of land in the next session,” Berkey said in the hearing held by the Higher Education Committee.
Analyses in the past two decades reveal that the three-county region is short on higher education opportunities for its residents and the situation will worsen as population grows.
Last year, a state-funded study predicted the needs of nearly 11,000 students will go unfulfilled by 2025 unless something changes.
With that data in hand, an advisory panel of civic, political and business interests called for establishing a university with an academic emphasis in science and engineering. A second choice would be linking up with the University of Washington.
Gov. Chris Gregoire responded by asking lawmakers for $2 million this year to ferret out a location and settle on a governance structure for a regional university.
She has not said if she prefers an independent college or a branch campus similar to the University of Washington’s Bothell campus or another concoction.
Thursday’s hearing was on Senate Bill 5322. Berkey wrote the measure to ensure if those dollars are allocated, they are spent studying only a stand-alone university.
Those who testified echoed her sentiment.
“This is the hope of the future,” said Skagit County Commissioner Sharon Dillon. “We are growing, and we need to have facilities so our children and our adults have the opportunities they need.”
Stanwood Mayor Dianne White made a pitch for bringing the college to a 400-acre site in her town where there is clean air, abundant water and less traffic. The bill calls for finding a site in Everett, Marysville or north Snohomish County.
Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon, Sue Ambler of the Snohomish County Workforce Development and Louise Stanton-Masten of the Everett Area Chamber of Commerce backed the bill.
Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson said the bill “builds on the governor’s proposal,” though he stopped short of endorsing it. He noted the matter of affiliating or going independent is a question dividing the area’s state lawmakers.
“We hope that we can work with our entire Snohomish County legislative delegation on a final product that unites us,” he said.
No representatives of community colleges or the University of Washington spoke in the hearing. It is no secret two- and four-year institutions oppose a new independent four-year college in the area.
They want any available state dollars invested in existing two- and four-year institutions. They’ve drawn up proposals to use additional enrollment slots and expanded instruction to serve the needs of the three counties.
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