TVW Air ScheduleWe’ve got today’s headlines, from bills to change minimum wage law to education funding reform.
Tags: athletics, education, Higher Education, K-12, minimum wage
In light of the Penn State scandal in which the school came under fire after former defensive football coach Jerry Sandusky was arrested and charged with 40 counts of sexual abuse of young boys, Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles signed on as the prime sponsor of a Senate bill designed to hold certain higher education employees responsible for reporting suspected child abuse.
The bill would expand the current child abuse law to make administrative, athletic, and academic employees of public or private universities responsible for reporting suspected child abuse to the police or the Department of Social and Health Services.
Under the bill, employees of state universities who do not fit under those categories would be required to report suspected child abuse to a supervisor.
Another bill heard in the Human Services and Corrections committee today also looks to expand the requirements for reporting. But this bill would also expand what needs to be reported to include things like “grooming behavior” and verbal sexual advances.
Prime sponsor of the bill, Sen. Mike Carrell, said that Washington needs to have a more comprehensive child abuse law that requires people such as principals to refer suspected child abuse to police instead of trying to handle some cases — like grooming or verbal advances — on their own.
Assistant Attorney General Sheila Huber and Sen. James Hargrove both expressed concerns that the reporting requirement for supervisors is only to law enforcement, which they said is not appropriate for every case. Hargrove said he wanted to avoid a heavy police presence in schools that may be unnecessary.
Huber also said her office was concerned with some of the definitions in the bill. Carrell said he is happy to work with others to tighten up language.
Tags: child abuse, Higher Education, sandusky
In just a few minutes TVW will be on air with legislators with discussions spanning the topics of the budget, jobs, and higher education.
So far, we’ve spoken with Senators Ed Murray and Mark Schoesler about the budget and Senator Derek Kilmer about job creation.
In our discussion about higher education with Representative Larry Haler, he said “we have reached the breaking point,” regarding cuts to higher education. He said he is in talks with higher education officials and has called for a “zero percent increase” in tuition, or as close to that as is feasible, he added.
All of the interviews today will be on air at 7 p.m. as well.
Tags: Derek Kilmer, Ed Murray, Higher Education, job creation, Jobs, Larry Haler
The House just passed the Higher Education Opportunity Act, which would make changes across the higher education system, including giving universities tuition setting authority, charging Running Start participants up to 10 percent of tuition, and more.
“I’m hoping that we’ll recognize that this lifting needs to keep on,” said Rep. Larry Seaquist. “As we get ready to vote, I’d like everybody to remember this slogan today: Let’s get Washington studying again,” he said.
Rep. Mark Miloscia said he remembers a time when some universities were free. “Colleges and universities are starting to be unattainable for most people,” he said. He said the state should make universities more affordable, but this bill falls short. “Why are families struggling to be able to send their kids to college. Why are kids not choosing to go to college?” He said the state needs to address those questions and get college costs lower.
“This bill goes the wrong direction in a couple of different ways,” said Rep. Bob Hasegawa. First, it goes in the “high tuition, high aid” direction — meaning the state raises tuition but increases financial aid for students from lower-income families. “Secondly, there’s no cost containment,” he said, so universities could raise tuition too high. “It’s really a sad day,” he said.
The bill passed with 79 votes.
Tags: Higher Education
Here’s this week’s Off the Set interview, with Rep. Reuven Carlyle. Carlyle talks about higher education issues and how to fund public transit at the local level.
The Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education committee is holding a public hearing this morning on three bills that could overhaul the current education system and create a new Department of Education.
One bill (SB 8212) would eliminate the Superintendent of Public Instruction — Randy Dorn’s position. Gov. Chris Gregoire is speaking the the committee right now. I am live blogging and will update as soon as possible. SB 5522 would switch the office of the superintendent to an agency of the executive branch. SB 5639 would consolidate the state’s agencies under one Department of Education.
“We live in the most competitive environment for jobs in our lifetimes,” said Governor Chris Gregoire, who proposed the consolidation. “Too often, students fall through cracks…they didn’t transition well from middle school to high school…too often, our students are stalled when they enter college.”
“So if we ask our students, our parents, our businesses, ourselves if the the status quo is working, I think we will find it is not,” she said.
“We don’t have a an education system in our state. We have a system of silos…we need to have one seamless system that educates our students from birth to career,” said the governor. “And finally, we need to have a nimble system…we need to know we can have system-wide response when we must.”
For example, she said, community colleges are using online textbooks. These are more affordable and should be used system-wide, Gregoire said.
“This is not about my friend, who I get along with very well – the Superintendent of Public Instruction,” she said. “It is about our students.”
Sen. Curtis King: “My concern is that as we look at ‘well, this school has succeeded…once that person has left or that group of people have changed — that we will lose that.”
Gregoire said that the success of programs like STEM (Science, technology, engineering and math) doesn’t rely on just one person. It is the program itself that gets results, she said.
“Let me be clear, I don’t think you can buy an education system,” she said. “I don’t think this replaces funds for an education system.”
“Some people say this is creating a DSHS,” said Sen. Rosemary McAulifee. (more…)
Tags: Department of Education, early learning, Governor Gregoire, Higher Education, K-12, superintendent of public instruction
Sen. Jim Kastama is unveiling his plan to create the state’s first non-profit online university to the Senate committee on higher education.
Sen. Kastama told the committee that the state need a clear alternative for affordable education in this economy. In 2009, he pointed out, 20 percent of Washington students took an online course.
The plan is to team with Western Governors University, which was founded in 1997 by 19 governors . The university receives grants from state and federal agencies as well as corporations and foundations but, according the bill report, does not rely on direct state or federal funding for its operations.
“We are unique in a couple of ways,” said a representative of WGU. We were created by governors with the specific purpose of increasing access to higher education for rural students and working adults, he explained.
The tuition at WGU is $5,800 a year and the university is self sustaining, meaning it doesn’t require any money from the state. It is a competency-based education, rather than one based on credit hours, which WGA said works particularly well for working adults who have already learned a lot. He added that 95 percent of the employers they surveyed last year said their graduates were just as competent or more than those who graduated from traditional universities.
WGU is a teaching university — not research based, he said. They provide baccalaureates in business, informational technology, teaching, health care and nursing. Teaching and nursing students, he explained, still do in-classroom and clinical training.
Sen. Michael Baumgartner asked if the low tuition rate doesn’t compromise a high level of innovation. Smith answered that the tuition supports innovation via a line item in its budget. (more…)
On The Impact tonight, you can learn about the Higher Education Coordinating Board’s budget proposal, which actually includes a possible increase in funding. We ask the HECB executive director about the plan, which provides more money for the state’s neediest students.
Then we go down to Clark County for a different kind of holiday season. Right now, they’re celebrating a fee holiday. It’s a gift for developers: build in a designated area of Clark County and all county permitting fees will be waived. There’s a lot of talk about incentivizing job growth, so we went to see how it’s being done at the local level. Coincidentally, not long after we taped that segment, we learned about the governor’s executive order to halt all new rulemaking processes by state agencies. It’s also meant to reduce regulatory hurdles that hinder job growth. You can learn more about her efforts here.
And finally, I’m getting social. Please request to be my friend on my Impact Facebook page. My email address is jessicag@tvw.org. You can follow what I’m working on, and I may even ask for your help tracking down story leads.
Don’t miss The Impact Wednesday nights at 7pm & 10pm on TVW. You can also catch us on our PBS partner stations.
Tags: facebook, fee holiday, Higher Education, The Impact
Watch this week’s edition of The Impact right here. Host Jessica Gao goes over the budget, which Gov. Chris Gregoire just signed, and what it will mean for higher education.
Tags: Budget, Higher Education, taxes, The Impact
On the heels of the vote to allow three universities to raise their own tuition, the bill to devote lottery funds to higher education will get a hearing tomorrow. We’ll televise it on TVW and webcast it live. I ran into Sen. Jim Kastama earlier today and he said House leadership has been very supportive of the bill so far.
Kastama said in an earlier interview that a similar approach has been adopted in other states and it’s been a huge success. He told me this morning that getting the bill to pass will be an “uphill battle” but that it would be “absolutely key” to locking in funding for state need grants and other aspects of higher education.
Tags: Higher Education
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