State House must move on college tuition

REP. Deb Wallace, chair of the state House Higher Education Committee, shouldn't drag her legislative heels on what would be one of the most significant fiscal-policy measures to come from the Legislature in decades.

The Democrat from Vancouver belatedly scheduled for Tuesday a hearing on a bill granting public universities tuition-setting authority. That also happens to be the last day policy measures can be taken up and voted upon.

Contrasted with the swift and bipartisan approval on the measure from the Senate, things have slowed to a snail's pace in the House. Wallace clearly understands that her efforts show a marked lack of urgency and could kill the legislation's chances.

Considering the momentum up until now, that would be a shame. Washington is one of a few states where the Legislature sets college tuition and lawmakers had begun to come around to the correct reality that they must cede some of that authority.

Deep cuts in higher-education budgets have lent appropriate fuel to the effort to give the three largest public institutions — Washington State University, Western Washington University and the University of Washington — authority to set tuition within strictly defined limits.

The Senate's agreement allows the universities to set tuition rates for seven academic years, starting in 2011. The maximum increase in any year would be 14 percent. In exchange, universities would increase financial aid, keep tuition in line with peer institutions and ensure educational quality doesn't suffer.

In the House, Wallace is said to be pondering substantive changes. The committee's ranking Republican, Rep. Glenn Anderson, wants the tuition bill to serve as a framework for a long-range discussion around stable and adequate funding.

But there has been no shortage of studies and debate about higher-eduction funding. The current funding is broken. What's needed now is a balance of smart policy and political compromise. Tuition flexibility injects sanity into a dysfunctional funding system.

The ball is in Wallace's court. It isn't unheard of for a committee to take up a measure and vote on it in one fell swoop. But the clock is ticking.