State's higher-ed system to get $500M budget cut

OLYMPIA — The state would cut almost $500 million from Washington's higher-education system, and public-school teachers likely would face layoffs under the Senate's proposed budget, the Senate's top Democrat said.

Depending on how colleges and universities handle those cuts, "it guarantees enrollment reductions that are fairly significant," Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, said Thursday, just days before the Senate's budget is formally unveiled.

In a separate interview, Brown said the proposed two-year budget would eliminate pay increases for teachers and state workers, and would leave around $850 million in reserve in case the economy gets even worse.

Overall, the budget would reduce state spending by $3.7 billion below what's needed to maintain existing services and pay for caseload increases and other costs, she said.

The cuts would be felt by the general public, Brown said, noting that "people will definitely notice fewer (higher-education) slots, more intense competition to get into universities. I believe there will be, unfortunately, teacher layoffs."

Brown's comments, paired with separate statements Thursday from House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, provided some of the most detailed glimpses yet of how the Legislature's long-awaited budgets may look.

In her no-new-taxes budget proposal in December, Gov. Chris Gregoire suggested about $342 million in cuts to higher education.

That amounted to net state spending cuts of about 13 percent across the board for four-year schools, and about 6 percent for community and technical colleges, after factoring in higher tuition.

But the state budget deficit has worsened considerably since Gregoire's budget plan was unveiled, and lawmakers now face a deficit of nearly $9 billion through mid-2011.

The Senate is unveiling its budget proposal Monday, followed by the House on Tuesday. Lawmakers might then develop a package of tax increases to send to voters later this year, letting the public "buy back" some programs that are cut in the state budgets.

Brown said the Senate has not yet decided whether to give universities the ability to raise undergraduate tuition above the current 7 percent cap to help make up for the drop in state spending.

Gregoire has proposed a surcharge on top of tuition to help universities deal with budget cuts.

Chopp said the House has not decided how much it might cut higher-education spending. But House officials are open to raising tuition rates above the 7 percent cap to offset some cuts, he said.

According to Brown's staff, other cuts the Senate is expected to propose include:

• A $255 million reduction in administrative costs across various state agencies.

• A $200 million reduction in the General Assistance-Unemployable (GAU) program, which provides a temporary safety net for people unable to work because of mental or physical disabilities.

• A $251 million cut to the Basic Health Plan, a state program that provides subsidized medical coverage to lower-income families.

State worker health benefits have been another target for savings, and the Senate's budget would save about $257 million by making state employees pay a large share of their health benefits, Brown said.

The Associated Press and Seattle Times staff reporter Andrew Garber contributed to this story.