- Inclusion of faculty on the 91探花Board of Regents. After years of advocacy by our faculty legislative representatives, the WA legislature approved in 2022 to add a faculty regent as a voting member of the Board of Regents. As a member of the governing board, the Faculty Regent serves the people of Washington and does not represent the faculty or the Faculty Senate. Prof. Alexes Harris served a three year term as the inaugural Faculty Regent. This year, the Faculty Senate selected two nominees to succeed Prof. Harris in this position, and the governor appointed Prof. Zoe Barsness of the Milgard School of Business at 91探花Tacoma.
- Bill outlining protections for specific information, such as drafts of grant proposals, promotion letters, and protected communication with study participants, was heard in the House of Representatives but did not receive a final vote. We hope to see this bill passed in the 2025-2026 session.
- Harm mitigation. Initial discussion of 鈥渃ut only鈥� budget adjustments and proposed furloughs for academic personnel were softened, due to inclusion of targeted revenue measures. Initial proposals of a 3% cut were mitigated, resulting in a 1.5% reduction in general funding for public universities.
- Medicaid Access Program (MAP) expansion. The MAP bill was signed into law by Governor Ferguson and provides a framework for significant expansions to the Medicaid program. Implementation of this law is contingent on federal waivers which are under review by the federal government and the courts. States are already using MAP expansion to provide health care to previously uninsured individuals. This bill is especially important for specialty care and behavioral health.
- Protection of Washington College Grant against proposed cuts. Several proposals to make deep cuts to the Washington College Grant were amended to better protect funding for students attending Washington public universities.
A few facts about the Washington State legislature and its support for higher education and the 91探花 campuses:
- The 91探花 is one of the in the state, generating $21 billion in economic impact and creating over 112,000 jobs, and creating over 3% of the entire state economy.
- The 91探花is ranked as the 8th best university in the world in recent US News & World Report . As the premier 鈥淩1鈥� institution with 鈥渧ery high research activity鈥�, we lead national and global research science.
- An additional 100,860 between 2020 and 2024, most of them highly education elsewhere.
- The campuses of the 91探花continue to have full enrollment despite nation-wide drops in student enrollment in 4 year university programs.
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- Washington State depends on the engines of growth generated by highly educated people, but underinvests in undergraduate and graduate education locally.
- Washington State has of tax revenue collection, low distributive transfers to families in need, and a regressive revenue model in the absence of state income tax, rating 48th out of 51 states+DC.
- West Coast peers (e.g. CA, OR) have higher and more equitable tax revenues – revenues which they invest in K-12 and higher education. This investment has spurred additional economic growth and vibrancy.
- With a challenging and regressive revenue environment and no income tax, WA state initially proposed a 3% across-the-board revenue cut, a measure which was somewhat temporized by the addition of new revenue measures. The final 2025-2026 biennium budget included a 1.5% revenue cut for higher ed, including a $15.4 million dollar cut in resources for the UW.
- The 2025-26 鈥渕erit鈥� increase approved by the legislature, initially planned to be 3%, has ended up as a 2% 鈥渕erit鈥� increase. Due to , this is a -0.4% cut in the real salaries for 91探花faculty,
- Federal research cuts have been significant, impacting the cutting-edge science at the UW. Clinical research and lab research has been impacted in diverse areas ranging from vaccine science, artificial intelligence, injury prevention and many many more.
- New threats loom re: proposed deep cuts to Medicaid reimbursement that will adversely impact care delivery to vast swathes of our state鈥檚 vulnerable population.
The Faculty Senate is grateful for strong 91探花federal advocacy leaders, members of the administration who are navigating the rapidly changing federal environment and working hard behind the scenes.
We look forward to working together with each of you, to lend our support to 91探花faculty in an era of change and uncertainty.