DES MOINES – To members of the state’s higher education board, it’s a pragmatic solution.

To a powerful state senator, it’s sabotage.

The state Higher Education Coordinating Board approved a recommendation Thursday calling for more study of college access needs for the region encompassing Snohomish, Island and Skagit counties.

Several local lawmakers say they instead wanted a specific proposal backing a four-year stand-alone university with a science and technology emphasis or a college affiliated with an existing university.

“I’m very disappointed,” Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D- Camano Island, told the board.

Haugen was instrumental in landing the $500,000 higher education study, which will be turned over to the Legislature by Dec. 1.

Based on the board’s recommendations, the money might have been better spent just giving scholarships to students who otherwise can’t attend school, she said.

The issue has been studied in depth over 20 years and it’s time for action, she said. Some lawmakers had been planning to seek about $30 million to begin buying land for a new campus.

Haugen said leaders from community colleges and universities lobbied against a new four-year stand-alone university.

“This was the biggest lobbying job by the other educational institutions,” she said. “It’s called good idea sabotaged.”

Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson said the board’s report seems to be saying, “We will see you again in 10 years.”

“We really have, I believe, an education crisis,” Stephanson said.

Sam Smith, state higher education board member and former president of Washington State University, said he wants to see more study and cooperation among the region’s elected leaders and community colleges and state universities about how the need can be met.

“I think there are a number of things they can do to move towards a four-year campus if the area will work together,” he said.

Smith said it doesn’t make sense to talk about buying land until there is agreement on the kind of campus that would be built.

Smith said the state board has to look at university access issues in a statewide context, not just in terms of regional need.

The state has significantly increased opportunities to four-year college degrees during the past two years, Smith said

It has done so by allowing four university branch campuses to begin offering classes to freshmen and sophomores and by allowing four community colleges to offer four-year degrees on a limited basis. Those colleges could eventually be accredited as four-year institutions.

Mauri Moore, a member of the Edmonds Community College Board of Trustees, said she liked the state board’s recommendation “a great deal” but hopes there will be continued work on filling the need for more junior- and senior-level courses in the region.

Haugen said she is tired of seeing students in the region with high grade points in high school turned down at the University of Washington and Western Washington University.

She said many of those students simply can’t pick up and attend college in Eastern Washington, where there are often enrollment slots.

“For many, that closes the door,” she said.

As written, the board recommendation does not include a request for money to continue the study.

However, the board’s staff will request another $250,000 to continue studying higher education alternatives in the region, said Jim Sulton, executive director for the board.

Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or stevick@heraldnet.com.