A strategic plan for public education

Today, the House Higher Education Committee will consider a strategic plan for the state's higher-education system that looks further into the future and reaches further back into the K-12 system than ever before.

Many of the strategies are familiar — increase university slots for engineering students — but this plan and its context are significant for other reasons. In the past, Washington's Higher Education Coordinating Board crafted a thoughtful update of the state's strategic plan for higher education every four years. Unfortunately, legislation was not necessarily informed by the wisdom of the board's exhaustive hearings and deliberations. The Legislature did not have to adopt it, let alone acknowledge it.

Not anymore. Thanks to a law change, the Legislature must consider the strategic plan and its recommendations.

The HEC Board has stepped up its game as well, lifting its eyes to a 10-year horizon and flavoring it heavily with the holistic approach recommended by last year's Washington Learns review of the state's education system.

Among the HEC Board's recommendations:

• Boost the educational attainment of Washington's citizens. This is important for our economy and our young people. While Washington ranks in the top 10 states for jobs in engineering, computer specialists and life and physical scientists, the state languishes around 38th for producing university graduate degrees in science and engineering.

The proposed plan suggests several strategies, ranging from increasing the number of slots in high-tech programs to promising middle-schoolers scholarships if they graduate high school with respectable grades and no criminal record.

• Promote economic growth and innovation throughout the economy. These recommendations include fostering research and innovation and enhancing the role of universities and colleges in work-force education.

• Monitor and fund higher education for results. This report embraces the idea of keeping an eye on states that naturally compete with Washington — so-called Global Challenge States — and making sure Washington's universities and colleges are keeping competitive in terms of funding, investment and salaries. The plan also recommends accountability measures, although it disappointingly falls short of recommending performance contracts between the state and universities.

Lawmakers' decision to formally consider the HEC Board's master plan is a good sign they are serious about ensuring a smart, comprehensive and coherent higher-education policy.