House and Senate policy committees spent their first full week after the House of Origin cutoff with a mix of hearing testimony on bills and learning more about issues facing higher education in the state. The House Postsecondary Education and Workforce Committee heard all of the State Board-requested bills at its hearing Tuesday, and the Senate Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee took up a bill that would add a student member to the State Board. In work sessions, the Senate higher education committee learned more about how the college system is funded and the House committee took a deep dive into the Worker Retraining Program.
Senate higher education committee hears overview of college system funding
March 17 — Members of the Senate Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee on Monday learned about community and technical college funding and expenses during a work session on the state’s public higher education tuition and state funding policy. Choi Halladay, deputy executive director for business operations at the State Board, gave senators a high-level view of how funding from the state, federal government, and other sources comes to the college system, distributed, spent, and constraints on both sides of the ledger.
“You as a Legislature do not individually appropriate out to every single college — you appropriate to the State Board and then the State Board, using input from college trustees and presidents, has a formulaic way that it distributes that funding out to the colleges. We call that the allocation model,” Halladay said.
He went on to describe the four elements of the allocation model — a minimum operating allocation, total enrollment, high-demand and high-cost enrollment, and student achievement performance metrics. Also included in state legislative funding are earmarks — funding set aside by the state budget for a specific purpose outside of the general allocation. The state allocation for the community and technical college system in the 2023-24 fiscal year was $1.1 billion. The system was also awarded $546 million in grants and contracts that year, of which about $360 came from the federal government.
Halladay told senators that tuition can be raised by about 3% each year, a limit set in state law tied to the state’s median hourly wage. Tuition at community and technical colleges, the lowest in the state, is $4,772 for a full-time in-state student. The approximate 3% tuition increase works out to about $140 per year.
“We are starting to see especially in the last few years inflation that for all the various goods and services as well as utilities and other things are really going up much higher than that,” Halladay said.
Community and technical college students, he continued, may need more accommodations than students attending a university.
“They'll be successful once they receive those, but those are additional cost drivers on a per student basis are a little higher for us,” he said.
Halladay also told committee members about additional budget considerations, highlighting basic education for adults and workforce programs. Students in basic education for adults programs, like high school completion and English language instruction, pay $25 per quarter, which is not subject to changes in tuition. The $25 fee is oftentimes waived.
“We feel that it is important that those students who were not successful in either getting a secondary degree — a high school diploma or other — need the preparatory work in order to get to college level have that availability,” he said. In the 2023-24 school year, 47,081 or 16% of community and technical college students, were enrolled as basic education students.
Workforce programs, Halladay continued, often require high-cost specialized equipment and materials and smaller class sizes, making them more expensive for colleges to operate.
State Board-requested bills heard in House higher education committee
March 18 — The House Postsecondary Education and Workforce Committee at its hearing Tuesday heard testimony on the State Board’s three agency-requested bills — tuition waivers for Tribal elders, expanding eligibility for the College Bound Scholarship, and tuition waivers for students in high school-completion classes at a community or technical college. Committee members also heard testimony on a bill that would allow community and technical colleges to advertise their online course offerings outside of their service areas.
Tuition waivers for Tribal elders
Committee members took up the bill that would authorize colleges to waive part or all of tuition and fees for elders over the age of 55 who are members of Washington’s 29 federally-recognized Tribes. The bill unanimously passed the Senate Feb. 28.
Sen. Claudia Kauffman, SB 5110’s prime sponsor and the Senate’s leadership liaison to Tribal Nations, spoke in favor of her bill, stressing that Tribal elders returning to college is about respect for them and inspiring younger generations.
“It's important to share with you that for American Indians, our elders are someone that we have tremendous amount of respect. We honor our elders. Our elders are the keepers of a lot of history, knowledge, ceremony, language. They're well respected in our community. We hold them up. We take care of them. This is a basic value that we hold when it comes to our American Indian elders,” she said. “And when an American Indian elder goes back to school, who goes back to college, that is noticed. That is witnessed. That is celebrated. And that is inspiring. You inspire so many generations when you see one of your elders going back to school. This will influence more than just an elder here or there going back to school. It influences generations.”
Maya Esquivido-Strom, interim director of tribal government affairs with the State Board, told committee members that Native Americans have a lower life expectancy compared to the general population — 65 versus 76.
“Tribal communities acknowledge elder status at the age of 55, and this change would be an important step towards recognizing the unique contributions and needs of indigenous communities in our educational system,” she said. “Access to tuition waivers would help ensure that they have the chance to further their education regardless of a short life expectancy or other socioeconomic barriers they may face.”
College Bound Scholarship expansion
Committee members also heard the bill that would make students who receive a high school equivalency certificate eligible for the College Bound Scholarship. Under current law, the scholarship may go to community and technical college students who graduate from high school without a felony conviction and whose families do not exceed 65% of the state median family income. It's available to students attending a public or private university who must maintain a C average while in high school to be eligible for the scholarship. The Senate unanimously passed the bill March 7, and the House committee passed its version of the bill Feb. 11.
Sen. Matt Boehnke, SB 5543's prime sponsor and an assistant professor of computer science at Columbia Basin College in Pasco, testified that his students would benefit from the bill.
“I've had some students that come to me that may have faltered throughout life. I tell people we're not a zero-defect community. We're all human. We have made mistakes. Whether it's on our path to success at a high school when we trip and stumble, we should give another opportunity like this bill to say, ‘hey, you have a right to get your GED® and still have an opportunity for success. Go after a scholarship that allows you to reduce barriers to higher education to get you inspired to go off to your career no matter what you want to do,’” he said.
Troy Goracke, a State Board basic education for adults policy associate who serves as the state’s GED® administrator, pointed out that all other ways for a student to be eligible for the scholarship are listed in the law.
“This change will place these students on an equal status, which aligns with the intent of the scholarship and provides equity to these Washington residents. This bill will lead to more individuals in Washington accessing postsecondary education and fulfilling valuable roles in the workforce,” he said.
Tuition waiver for high school completion
Also up for a hearing was the bill that would give community and technical colleges the ability to waive course fees for students attending their schools to earn a high school diploma or certificate. The bill, SB 5542, unanimously passed the Senate March 6. The House also unanimously passed its version of the bill March 5.
Sen. Matt Boehnke, the Senate bill's prime sponsor, said the bill is about reducing barriers to higher education.
“We can get everybody on a career path that they can go after, inspire what they want to do, and create the career path we want for everybody throughout the state,” he said.
Troy Goracke, a State Board basic education for adults policy associate overseeing adult high school completion, said removing the age requirement helps students stay enrolled and more likely to start college-level courses.
“Washington residents will enroll in postsecondary education, earn high school diplomas, certificates, credentials, and degrees, and successfully transition to the workforce at a higher level at no additional cost,” he said.
Sarah Stiffler, assistant dean for adult basic education at Spokane Community College, told committee members the Spokane District’s Board of Trustees voted in 2023 to offer a tuition waiver for adult high school students up to 10 credits. She reported the college saw an increased number of students enrolling in college-level courses after earning their high school-diploma.
“Waving tuition for college level classes for our high school plus students has had a significant impact on our adult high school students,” she said. “Students are earning college level credits that also count toward their high school graduation requirements, and the students that have participated so far reported an increase in confidence in self-worth that has encouraged many to continue at SCC and other postsecondary institutions leading to a more skilled workforce.”
Online course advertising bill
Last on the committee’s agenda was the bill that would allow community and technical colleges to advertise online course offerings outside of their districts. SB 5663 passed the Senate March 4 with a 48 to 1 vote.
“If you are taking a course [in South Seattle] and you have childcare issues or you have two jobs and maybe you need another prerequisite and it could be available somewhere else in the state but it isn’t actually available in your own home college territory, and you don’t know about it, then you can’t access it. And I think it diminishes the pathways that we have for people to be able to reskill, upskill, and get better wage jobs” Sen. Vandana Slatter, the bill's prime sponsor, said.
The original version of the bill would have required the State Board to develop a website for students to search online program offerings offered by the 34 community and technical colleges. It would have also established a work group charged with developing a virtual campus for online courses by the 2028-29 academic year.
Arlen Harris, the State Board’s legislative director, told committee members that State Board staff would be working in the interim on a way for people to search online course offerings.
“What this has brought to light is the opportunity to do a better job of showcasing the online education opportunities that are throughout our community and technical college system,” he said.
House higher education learns about efforts to train dislocated workers
March 19 — The House Postsecondary Education and Workforce Committee spent its meeting time Wednesday in a work session learning more about the state’s efforts to train people for the workfo
rce. On that agenda was a session on the Worker Retraining Program led by Anna Olson, a workforce education policy associate, and Travis Dulany, associate director of research, with the State Board.
The Legislature established the Worker Retraining Program in 1993 to provide funding to dislocated and unemployed workers for training programs to help them get back into the workforce. It also provides support to those students for financial aid, education and career advising, and job referrals, as well as monetary support for tuition, fees, books, and other related expenses. Each of Washington’s 34 community and technical colleges receives Worker Retraining funding for student and program support as do licensed private schools chosen through a competitive contracting process for student support.
“It has served thousands and thousands of students — those who are dislocated workers, vulnerable employees, veterans separating from military service — and it has served them with financial aid, career advising, education planning, and other services as they're seeking to reenter the workforce, or as is the case with vulnerable employees, stay connected to the workforce,” Olson said.
Program enrollment historically trends up as unemployment goes up, serving about 20,000 students in the wake of the Great Recession and its peak and about 8,200 students in 2023. The program served nearly 9,500 students in the 2023-24 school year.
“We are seeing more students seeking to get training to again reenter the workforce or stay in the workforce,” Olson said.
Olson went on to explain the selection process for program to be eligible for Worker Retraining funds.
“The mix of programs that are eligible for Worker Retraining gets reevaluated every year at each college locally, and it is done with the guidance from the advisory committee that consists of majority labor and business representatives. Priority is given to high-demand occupations in strategic industry clusters,” she said.
Program evaluation is also done at the state level, through the Customer Advisory Committee, which is made up of representatives from business, labor, colleges served by Worker Retraining funds, and the State Board. Representatives from the Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board, Employment Security Department, and the Department of Commerce also serve in a non-voting role.
Taking a look at student demographics, Dulany told committee members that two-thirds of Worker Retraining students are over the age of 30, with a median age of 35, and most are women and students of color.
“We have across the community and technical college system a lot of programs that help students with the transition from high school into college and then into career, but Worker Retraining is really one of those few programs that focuses on students who are so-called nontraditional students of an older age,” he said.
Most Worker Retraining graduates earn degrees in healthcare, with others majoring in business, computer information sciences, early childhood education, and engineering production trades. About 73% of students had a job two quarters after they left the program, regardless of whether they completed their program or not, and 91% of those students were employed two quarters after that.
“Across all the income ranges, students either earn what they're making or better on a median basis,” Dulany said.
Bill adding a student member to the State Board heard in Senate higher education committee
March 20 — The Senate Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee on Thursday heard testimony on the bill that would add a student member to the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges. The student would have to be at least 18 years old, would serve for one year, and would be required to recuse themselves from participating or voting on matters related to hiring, discipline, personnel, or pending litigation. HB 1486 passed the House March 11 with a 75-20 vote.
“Students are the primary stakeholders that boards like SBCTC aimed to serve, and their lived experiences would be incredibly valuable into the policies that impact learning conditions affordability and accessibility,” Rep. Osman Salahuddin, the bill’s prime sponsor, said.
Arlen Harris, legislative director for the State Board, also spoke in favor of the bill.
“The State Board had an open public meeting a month ago, and in that meeting they discussed this bill in in length, and they said they are always welcome and interested in hearing the voice of students,” he said.
Coming up next week
House and Senate budget writers are expected to release their versions of the 2025-27 operating budget next week, with hearings scheduled in House Appropriations and Senate Ways and Means on Tuesday. In policy committees, the House Postsecondary Education and Workforce Committee is slated to hold a work session on Basic Education for Adults and the I-BEST program on Tuesday, and votes on State Board-requested bills are set for that committee's Wednesday meeting.
