Washington colleges left behind in education funding boost

Washington’s lawmakers have been attempting to fully fund K-12 education, as ordered by the state’s supreme court. But another educational branch is asking officials not to forget about Washington colleges.

“We need to make sure that when they do fund the McCleary decision that students who graduate with improved capabilities have a place to go, whether that’s a four-year system or the community and technical college system,” said Marty Brown, outgoing executive director of the State Board of Community and Technical Colleges.

“We are asking for money for support services and faculty salaries to make sure that when they do come to our system they will be taught well, trained well, and will be productive members of society,” he told Seattle’s Morning News.

Related: Gov. Jay Inslee proposes budget to fully fund Washington education

Washington has scurried to fund its K-12 educational system in recent years. The court found that the state was failing its constitutional duty to fund its K-12 schools. Lawmakers, however, had a habit of cutting education funding over the decades. This led to communities relying on local levies to fill the funding gaps. In turn, wealthier communities have been able to fund their schools better than poorer districts.

Governor Jay Inslee recently proposed a budget that fully funds the schools. It still has to be approved, or denied, by legislators. But what has been often ignored in the funding discussion are Washington colleges that also have suffered from a lack of funding.

Economy and Washington colleges

“We are behind (in funding),” Brown said. “We — as did everybody — took a cut during the recession. We are still trying to get back to 2007-08 funding levels. And when you take the cuts that occurred at the state level … and now enrollments are lagging because the students that would normally come to community college are working because the economy is booming.”

State budget officials attempted to make up for recent funding losses by raising tuition on higher education, Brown notes. That has contributed to an increase in student debt — if they went to college, that is. As Brown said, many have put off college to enter the workforce while the economy has done well. It’s not a good long-term plan, however, he notes.

“They are not going to get as good of a job as they could get – many are minimum wage or entry level that will need training for them to advance,” Brown said.

“They are getting a start, but are not getting the type of training in welding or machining or manufacturing that they could get and start at a higher level,” he said.

Brown said that Washington colleges, the technical schools, in particular, have started to teach skills essential for the booming economy, skills such as composite manufacturing which weren’t around even 10 years ago. Most of the state’s nursing staff comes from the technical school system as well.

To change this around, lawmakers need to think ahead, Brown said. He promotes that some money needs to be found for colleges if Washington is going to remain competitive.

“We just need to look toward the future and can’t continue to think in two-year blocks like budgets are in the legislature,” Brown said. “We have to think about what happens to those 4^th and 5^th graders who will benefit from funding from McCleary. Where are they going to go? Are there going to be enough seats? Are there going to be enough modern technology programs? We obviously need more funding. We have not kept up in our state. It’s not just our state. The whole country has to think of education as a very high priority that we have forgotten about.”

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