The Newsletter

Board Approves Strategic Plan

In a historic move, the Washington Student Lobby Board of Directors approved a strategic plan which sets out a series of goals that will broaden the WSL's membership, strengthen its lobbying efforts, provide greater continuity and accountability, increase its presence in the lives of students, and create a more powerful student voice in Olympia and nationwide. The plan was a product of work that began in 2005 and involved students, board members, alumni, staff, and colleagues in higher education.

On Wednesday, March 26, Governor Gregoire signed SHB 2582 into law. The WSL worked hard for the bill which reforms the higher education child care grant programs. Originally, the grants were delivered on a competitive basis and child care programs could not depend on them from year to year. On the other hand, student contributions to child care programs, particularly those at 4-year schools, are quite dependable. In fact, Washington students contributed about $4 million of their S&A fees to child care programs last year. With this in mind, the WSL lobbying team set out to get the state to match the student contributions. SHB 2582 requires that the higher education coordinating board, the agency in charge of distributing grants among the 4-year schools, reflect the S&A contributions of each school and distribute the grant money proportionally. The state board for community and technical colleges will assess the needs of the 2-year schools and distribute the grants based on that assessment. The bill also removes requirements from both grant programs which had restricted money to “new and innovative” child care programs.

The WSL and student leaders from around the state were surprised to learn that the victory they had nearly won to significantly increase funding for child care was reversed at the last minute. Although the Legislature passed a budget which included an additional $1 million for the newly-reformed child care grant program, the Governor felt that new funding “should be evaluated in the biennial budget process when it can be reviewed in context with existing child care programs and vetoed the proviso with the additional money.” She did not indicate what the existing child care programs were. The WSL continues to support increased state funding for child care and will continue work for increased state contributions in the 2009 legislative session.

Also on April 1^st, HB 2783 and the appropriations for additional mental health counselors came under the Governor's red pen.

HB 2783 – Regarding Transfer & Articulation

HB 2783 would have created a “transfer student bill of rights” and created work groups, inclusive of students, to help fix this state's insufficient transferability and notification policy. Although the bill didn't pass, the result of the Governor's veto message should be considered a small victory. Here is an excerpt:

I am asking the agencies to continue their work to develop ways to inform students, in clear language, about the transfer process and to address barriers to student transfers, especially for those transferring from technical programs or career schools. I also ask the HECB, SBCTC, and Washington Student Lobby to present proposals on transfer issues to the P-20 Council. Finally, I also want the HECB and SBCTC to refine and combine their plans for a web-based advising system.

The WSL will be holding the Governor to her word. We have already talked to her about it and will be working closely with the agencies and stakeholders involved with improving transfer policy.

One new mental health counselor at each four-year institution

It is much more difficult to count the veto of additional mental health funding as a positive outcome. The WSL worked hard to present to the Legislature's budget makers what each of the 4-year campuses needed to meet national standards for mental health counselors. Each school presented different needs. In the end though, the Legislature opted to fund one additional mental health counselor for each school. Students feel that although campus safety measures meant to improve response time in emergencies (like early warning systems and clear maps for first responders) are important, efforts should also be made to prevent emergencies before they happen. The events at Virginia Tech and elsewhere indicate that mental health counseling may have helped prevent these tragedies from happening.

You can find the governor's full veto messages here.

Since the WSL joined the United States Student Association (USSA) last year, student leaders from Washington State have taken a prominent role in the national student movement. USSA president, Gabriel Pendas had this to say about the WSL:

It has only been a year since the Washington Student Lobby joined the United States Student Association and since then not only have WSL leaders sat on our national board of directors, shaping the direction of a national student association, but they have also played a critical role in the development of other statewide student associations and student governments across the country.

Bryce McKibben, Mike Bogatay, Jake Stillwell, Tyler Dockins and Sarah Reyneveld continued their roles as national student leaders on a trip to D.C., last month. Jake, Mike and Bryce began their week in D.C. by attending the first ever National Statewide Student Association (SSA)Summit. For two days, SSA leaders from around the country participated in student organizing workshops, discussed past victories and challenges, brainstormed ideas for future national student conferences and networked.

The USSA is committed to helping SSA's like WSL. Their State Project Director, Bill Shiebler is in constant contact with SSA's across the country. This is his vision of SSA's:

Statewide Student Associations are the backbone of the student movement today. They are comprised of the diligent, disciplined, and driven student leaders of our country organizing, lobbying, and advocating a vision for what the everyday experience of a student should be like. They not only articulate this vision to their student membership but they then bring practical solutions to everyday problems our elected officials are responsible for solving. SSA's have been a driving force in the USSA for over 40 years and we fervently believe that by building strong statewide associations for students in every state, we will be that much closer to a strong United States Student Association.

After the summit, Bryce, Jake, Mike, and Tyler participated in the USSA's Legislative Conference, or LEGCON, and attended seminars on vote work, legislative strategies, lobbying best-practices, SSA leadership, and many other subjects. During the USSA Board of Directors meeting, Mike and Jake engaged in a discussion regarding statewide forums for students to determine what issues should be brought to the USSA National Student Congress. The details for the forums are still being worked out.

During the National Student Lobby Day, the WSL team was joined by Sarah Reyneveld of UW GPSS and helped shape the national student movement in yet another, more familiar way, by lobbying. Together, the Washington delegation met with the legislative staff for Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, Congressmen Dave Reichert, Brian Baird, Doc Hastings, Norm Dicks, and Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers. They discussed the Higher Education Act reauthorization, which is expected to be sent to the President's desk within the next month, and federal student aid programs in the federal budget.

Yet another extremely important aspect of the WSL's involvement in the national student movement is the increased ability to network, get expert advice, and share useful experiences. After the lobbying, Mike met with Tim Bingaman, the USSA Alumni and Development and discussed the possibility of setting up a WSL foundation in the near future. Jake met with Bill Shiebler, the USSA State and System Student Association Development Director about recruiting the Arizona Student Association (ASA) and Colorado Student Association as USSA members before National Student Congress. (P.S. The ASA is now a full-fledged member of the USSA!)

As a recurring feature, this section will attempt to explain some of the more confusing aspects of Washington State higher education policy.

This month: acronyms!

See how many you know.

1. HECB
2. JAOG
3. SBCTC
4. WTECB
5. OFM
6. DTA
7. P20
8. WSU-TC
9. GMAP
10. FTE

None?

Well, join the club; most citizens of Washington have never heard of these examples of governmental jargon. Here are the answers:

1. The Higher Education Coordinating Board or “heck” board for short, is the agency responsible for coordinating four-year institutions and administering most of the states financial aid programs. One of their major responsibilities is the creation of the Strategic Master Plan for Higher Education.
2. The Joint Access Oversight Group was formed in 2003 to consider statewide transfer issues and recommend policy strategies. It is a standing committee that meets about six times a year with representatives from the public and independent academic degree-granting institutions and the HECB.
3. The State Board for Community & Technical Colleges is the two-year equivalent to the HECB.
4. The Workforce Training & Education Coordinating Board, or simply “the workforce board” is an agency that works to coordinate the various parts of government that help match unemployed or under-employed citizens with the training they need to get jobs.
5. The Office of Financial Management performs many central functions of state government, including forecasting the amount of revenue that the state will receive, forecasting the fiscal impact of various policies, acting as the “governor’s shop” of policy experts and advisors, and producing the governor’s budget.
6. A Direct Transfer Agreement Associate degree is defined as that degree awarded by a community college to students who have completed a transfer curriculum. It is meant to provide a community college student with at least 90 transferable quarter credits (60 semester credits).
7. The P-20 Council refers to an outgrowth of the Washington Learns program which is meant to take a comprehensive approach to education, from pre-school(P) to graduate programs and beyond (20).
8. Washington State University at Tri-Cities is a branch campus of WSU in Richland. It has a beautiful and rapidly expanding campus on the Columbia River.
9. Government Management Accountability & Performance is a “tool” or agency that scientifically measures the performance of various government agencies and often makes suggestions for improvement.
10. A Full Time Enrollment is one definition of FTE that is derived from the number of full and part time students that an institution serves. To confuse matters FTE also stands for Full Time Equivalency, which is used in the budgeting as shorthand for “the cost of one full time employee”