FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - June 19, 2009

HECB’s June Meeting to Focus on Legislative Work Assignments  

       OLYMPIA—The Higher Education Coordinating Board will hold a work session at Pierce College Puyallup June 23 to discuss progress on a list of legislative assignments the HECB must complete by the end of the year.

      Among the projects already under way is the System Design Plan, which will provide guidance to the Governor and Legislature on cost-effective and efficient ways to utilize state resources to achieve Washington’s higher education goals.

      Other assignments the 2009 Legislature gave the HECB to complete this year:

• Tuition Flexibility Study. Review options and make recommendations on a tuition policy that allows flexibility, accessibility, and differentiation among Washington's various public baccalaureate tuition rates.

• Technology Transformation Study. Create a plan for improving the strategic and operational use of technology to achieve efficiency, effectiveness, and quality of education.

• Performance Agreements. Develop performance agreements though the state performance agreement committee and each public four-year institution for the period Sept. 1, 2009, through June 30, 2015.

• College Access Portal Workgroup. Create a one-stop college information web-based portal for students and families who are planning, preparing for, or attending, postsecondary education.

      The work plan that will be presented to the Board at the June 23 meeting also includes developing a set of proposed Higher Education Reinvestment Principles and Policies that will reflect conclusions from the System Design Plan, as well as the latest economic forecasts and the impacts of recent higher education budget cuts. That work would then culminate in an interim update to the 2008 Strategic Master Plan for Higher Education, which would be completed by the end of the year.

      The objective will be to develop strategies that will keep Washington moving toward achieving higher education goals identified in the Strategic Master Plan. They include promoting state economic growth and innovation, and expanding degree production by making higher education available to more low-income and minority persons.

     Briefing materials for the meeting are available at:
      www.hecb.wa.gov/boardmtgs/index.asp

Who:       Higher Education Coordinating Board

What:     June Work Session

Where:   Pierce College Multipurpose Room “A”

                1601 39th Avenue SE, Puyallup

When:    Tuesday, June 23, 2009,  9 a.m. – 3 p.m.

For more information: Gary Larson

(360) 753-7817 or garyl@hecb.wa.gov