from Publicola

Rep. Marko Liias (D-21, Edmonds) was recently reelected to his second term in the Legislature, where he serves on the House Education Committee.

In 2009, I proudly led the fight on the floor of the State House of Representatives against a proposal to increase tuition at our state colleges by nearly 30 percent. We came within one vote of succeeding and our fight sent a strong message about the political ramifications of balancing our state budget on the backs of students.

In the two years since that debate, very little has been done to rein in costs and improve accountability in our higher education system, yet we are about to embark on the same discussion about dramatic tuition increases as the solution to the crisis in higher education funding.

Unfortunately, I believe we are approaching this issue backwards. First we must construct a coherent system that is efficient and accountable, and then it makes sense to examine tuition policy. To grant unlimited tuition-raising authority to universities now guarantees reform will not happen.

Two years ago, when I argued against tuition increases, the primary question my colleagues asked me was, what is the alternative? If we don’t increase tuition, how can we save our colleges and universities from drastic cuts? My answer then was the same as my answer today: Policymakers need to set better priorities for funding and demand accountability from our higher education system.

A recent report by the Higher Education Funding Task Force to the governor found that over the next decade more and more jobs will require a four-year degree, and our state institutions appear to be ill-equipped to manage this increase in demand.

But the report is misguided in the solutions it proposes to this challenge. By focusing on more massive tuition increases and a scholarship program funded by business tax breaks, it ignores the more fundamental changes that must be made first. Our higher education system needs reform and efficiency more than it needs another blank check.

So, before we get to giant tuition increases, let’s start with a performance audit of administration and overhead. Next, let’s rethink the linkages between K-12 schools, community colleges and our universities. And finally, rather than tying tuition rates to state spending, let’s tie state spending and tuition to performance.

The report dwells on the recent cuts in state funding for higher education, yet there is no discussion in the report about some of the unnecessarily high costs in our higher education system. For example, the state-funded Higher Education Coordinating Board costs nearly $10 million a year to provide administrative services at the state level that universities could provide locally. In addition, we must examine the layers of middle management and administration at all levels of state government, and our higher education institutions should be no exception.

In addition, the report does little to acknowledge the reality that our higher education system is not composed solely of four-year universities. The facts are clear: The cost of educating students is lower the earlier they begin earning college credit. Students who receive college credit in high school or take lower division courses at a community college before they enter a four-year institution, maximize our scarce resources while earning that degree they need.

The governor’s task force does mention performance, but it virtually comes as an afterthought on the second-to-last page of the report. And the proposals are scant at best, calling for new measures based on a national model. Tying state spending to performance means we pay the most cost-effective institution to deliver the higher education services that we need.

Lost in all of this chatter over tuition and demands for more money is the broader point: We are falling behind our international competitors. The University of Washington made news last fall when it was ranked as the 55th best university in the world. Averaging the tuition rates at all public universities that outranked the UW shows Washington is more than 50 percent more expensive than its global competitors.

It is no wonder that our college graduation rates in the United States are being swamped by our competition; we are pricing students out of a college education. And those who do make the educational journey are consequently left with tens of thousands of dollars in student loans.

As the first in my family to go to college, I believe in the life-changing power of education. I believe that the education of our people is truly the paramount duty of the state. But in these trying economic times, we can ill afford the business-as-usual approach that is being suggested. We can do better, and so we must.