In a time when many people are looking for economic stability, local community colleges are no different.
State Sen. Paull Shin, D-Mukilteo, has proposed a bill recommending a study to see if it would be beneficial to combine community college and K-12 education for funding purposes.
By putting them under the K-12 umbrella, community colleges would receive 8.3 percent more money per full time equivalent (FTE) student from the federal government in addition to the allocated FTE funding they currently receive from the state and the revenue they receive from tuition, according to Shin. The bill would also allow the colleges to receive funding from local levy elections. Overall, Shin said, it would provide a more stable funding source for the colleges.
“I was a teacher at Shoreline Community College from 1970 to 1996, and every year we were worried about funding, more and more students coming and we were told to cut programs,” Shin said. “I think of education as the tools to succeed, and high school alone will not provide that anymore. Basic education is now K-14.”
The combination of “record-setting” enrollment numbers and having to make large budget cuts because of the state deficit has caused concern among the local colleges.
“We need to find a stable funding source that doesn’t fluctuate with the economy,” Edmonds Community College president Jack Oharah said. “We had a 10 percent jump in enrollment in the fall of 2002, and projections show this will continue through 2008.”
Edmonds, Shoreline and Everett community colleges each receive about $4,000 per FTE from the state. However, Shin said, the number of FTEs funded is state-allocated and does not cover the total number of FTEs served by the colleges.
College officials said they support Shin’s efforts.
“He is very aware of the struggles we have with funding, and I think the idea for the study is great,” Shoreline president Holly Moore said.
Still, they are concerned about being involved in local levies at the same time public schools are looking to taxpayers for their own funding.
“It raises some issues that if you fund colleges like K-12, it puts you in an arena you’ve never been in before: the political arena,” Everett president Pat McClain said.
Shin said his hopes are that public schools would also eventually receive the additional funding from the federal government, and that it would be a “win-win situation.” But it is too early to tell what will happen, Shin said.
The bill will go to the full Senate first. If it passes through the House and is signed by the governor, the policy making committee will present its recommendations to the legislature in Dec. 2004. If it proves to be “expedient and profitable,” the bill could be in front of voters by 2006.
In addition, because only K-12 is defined as basic education to be funded by the state, approving this bill would mean making an amendment to the constitution, Shin said.
“Of course there are hurdles, but this is a good beginning, and I am pretty optimistic that the legislature will pass this,” Shin said. “This is an idea whose time has come.”
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