BILL REQ. #:  H-4899.1 

READ FIRST TIME 02/06/04.   

     WHEREAS, The Higher Education Coordinating Board is required to prepare a strategic master plan for higher education every four years that proposes a vision and identifies goals and priorities for the higher education system in Washington state and identifies strategies for achieving the board's goals; and
     WHEREAS, The board, in accordance with House Bill No. 2076, developed an interim strategic master plan and presented the plan to the Legislature and Governor on December 15, 2003, as required by the statute; and
     WHEREAS, The Legislature recognizes the need for Washington to provide affordable access for nearly thirty-five thousand additional students in higher education; and
     WHEREAS, As a result, the strategic master plan for higher education must be comprehensive and include specific enrollment forecasts and locations, service delivery models, timelines, and benchmarks for achieving its recommendations; and
     WHEREAS, The Legislature acknowledges that accountability for achieving the goals in the master plan rests with all parties: The institutions of higher education, various state boards and agencies, and the Legislature;
     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, By the House of Representatives of the state of Washington, the Senate concurring, That the Legislature request the board to make the final 2004 strategic master plan both a platform for enhanced advocacy on behalf of higher education and a tool for coordinated planning, funding, and building to meet increased demand for higher education; and
     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the board include the following information in the final plan:
     (1) Additional analysis regarding the board's goal to increase by twenty percent the total number of students who earn college degrees and earn job training credentials by the year 2010, including:
     (a) The number of students expected to demand access in each sector of postsecondary education, by region;
     (b) The current service delivery model and its capacity under current plans to enroll additional students, any proposed changes to the service delivery model, and the potential consequences of those changes;
     (c) The economic demand for education and training in general and specific fields and at all levels of postsecondary education; and
     (d) The estimated costs of meeting the board's enrollment goal, with alternative scenarios depending on the service delivery model; and
     (2) Specific recommendations for how the state can best meet the board's goal, including the number of students to be added at each current campus or center; proposals for additional locations or methods for delivering education; and resulting capital and operating costs; and
     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Legislature concur with the board's general strategies to improve educational efficiency, promote innovation in service delivery, improve higher education's responsiveness to the state's economic needs, and improve K-12/higher education linkages to promote student success in college. However, to be more effective, the board should target a limited number of strategies and provide more specificity in how these strategies will be accomplished, including supporting data and analysis regarding the problems and proposed solutions; and
     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the final plan recognize that while institutions are temporarily authorized to establish tuition and fees for nonresident and graduate students, the Legislature maintains responsibility to establish tuition and fees for resident undergraduate students; and
     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That within the current higher education governance structure, the board, the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, and the Work Force Training and Education Coordinating Board work to improve communication and minimize duplication among the three agencies; and
     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the final plan contain measurable performance indicators, targets, and benchmarks to gauge progress toward achieving the plan's goals for quantity, cost, quality, and timeliness, including recommendations for specific actions on the part of higher education institutions, education boards and agencies, and the Legislature, so that each can be held accountable.