If you set it next to the estimated $2 billion that the Legislature will have to find in savings and new revenue in order to fully fund K-12 education in the 2015 session as mandated by the state Supreme Court, it’s almost amusingly modest.
Except that it’s a serious need.
The State Board for Community and Technical Colleges is requesting $182 million from the Legislature for its 2015-17 operating budget. The board’s capital budget, which pays for maintenance and construction at community colleges, outlines a prioritized list of projects totaling $367 million. The first six items of the capital budget, totaling $102.5 million of that list, would pay for repairs and improvements statewide. A project to build a science, engineering and technology building at Edmonds Community College for $35 million is 17th on a list of 24 projects.
You’ll excuse officials at Everett and Edmonds community colleges if they’re a little nervous about putting even a modest request before the next Legislature.
Not because lawmakers don’t recognize the importance of the community college system, but because that $182 million might look like a tempting source for savings when lawmakers have to make hard choices about satisfying K-12 education needs outlined by the Supreme Court’s McCleary decision.
It’s not needless concern; the community and technical college system has seen cuts before.
The 2013-15 operating budget, adjusted for inflation provided 23 percent less than the budget for 2009, said EvCC President David Beyer.
At the same time, community college students also are paying a greater percentage of their educations because of tuition increases. Students now pay about 35 percent of the cost of their education, compared to 24 percent in 2009.
“McCleary gets all the attention,” Beyer told the Herald Editorial Board this week in a meeting with EdCC President Jean Hernandez. “But we need support as well.”
Higher education continues the investment made in K-12.
“K through 12 can’t be the end point,” Herandez said.
“By 2016, 75 percent of the state’s residents will need at least a one-year certification to get a living wage job,” she said.
That $182 million does a great deal: $87.5 million for support of student degree and certificate programs, $51 million for basic education for adults, $29.1 million for investments in faculty and staff and $15 million for STEM assistance for K-12 students and workforce training to aid businesses.
For 400,000 state residents each year, two-year colleges represent the most affordable and valuable option for the degrees and training they need to continue their education or find living-wage work. The $182 million will be money well spent.
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