Gov. Chris Gregoire today announced the formation of a Higher Education Funding Task Force to help create a sustainable funding model and develop strategies that increase accountability to ensure taxpayers get the best value for the state's and student's investment at our four-year universities. "Our state's four year universities are an incredibly valuable economic asset and as a changing economy becomes more demanding, we must continue to be able to provide Washington's employers with a skilled workforce," said Gregoire. "This means having a higher education system that is more transparent, performing better and serving our students in the most efficient way possible." To meet the demand of skilled workers needed by Washington's economy over the next decade, Washington state's public four-year universities must increase annual baccalaureate degree production by 30%. At the same time, Washington has faced significant shortfalls in the state budget the last two years and an expected $3 billion deficit for the next biennium.
Gregoire asked the task force to focus on three tasks:
- Develop a realistic and viable long-range funding strategy that provides Washington's students with affordable higher education opportunities.
- Recommend ways to improve accountability and performance in our public four-year higher education institutions to ensure we get the very highest value for the state's and student's investment.
- Consider whether the higher education system's current governance model should be modified to improve system-wide performance and accountability.
The task force will be chaired by Brad Smith, general counsel and senior vice president of Legal and Corporate Affairs at Microsoft. "Brad is someone who has demonstrated a great commitment to improving our public education system," said Gregoire. "I am pleased that Brad has agreed to serve as the chair of the task force. He brings to the table skills and experiences which I believe will help us achieve our goal of a world class higher education system."
"If we want the children who grow up in our state to have a full opportunity to acquire the skills needed in the 21st century economy, we need to ensure that our public universities remain healthy," said Smith. "I want to thank the governor for bringing together a group of talented people from a wide range of perspectives to address this issue in a non-traditional way, as well as to thank everyone who has agreed to join us in this important effort." The Higher Education Funding Task Force will meet several times this summer and make recommendations to Gregoire in the fall, with proposals to eventually be incorporated into her 2011 legislative agenda. Members of the governor's Higher Education Funding Task Force are:
Brad Smith, Chair, Senior VP and General Counsel, Microsoft Corporation
Judith Runstad, Foster Pepper LLC
Charlie Earl, Director, State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
Jesus Hernandez, Chair, Higher Education Coordinating Board
Thomas L. "Les" Purce, President, Evergreen State College
Pat Shanahan, Vice President & General Manager, Airplane Programs, Boeing Company
David Tang, Managing Partner, K&L Gates LLP
Paula Reynolds, CEO, Preferwest LLC
Dean Allen, CEO, McKinstry Company
Bill Ayer, Chair and CEO, Alaska Air
Michael Kluse, Senior VP, Battelle
Maud Daudon, President & CEO, Seattle Northwest Securities
Chris Rivera, President, Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association
Ray Stephanson, Mayor of Everett
Paul Rosier, Executive Director, Washington Association of School Administrators
Alex McGregor, President & CEO, The McGregor Company
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