I am a beneficiary of public University education along with my husband and each of our three children. I want all who qualify and wish one, to be able to access it, also.

My children and I majored in STEM at UW. We know how important it is for local employers to have adequate #s of slots available for our students to complete their degrees in a timely manner instead of going into further debt to finance their fifth years.

Also for K-12 education since some school districts will see extreme budget cuts to operations and maintenance because of the McCleary decision.

This is an important funding mechanism for students in need.

As a former UW grad student, and former Lecturer at Cal. state U., I understand the importance of education and support higher learning.

I've worked as an engineer most of my career, and was a mentor to student STEM interns, so I'd like to see more support.

While we have fulfilled our McCleary obligation to this point, we still have more to do to fully fund K-12 basic education. That being said, I got into politics because I believe strongly in a robust educational system, which includes early learning through higher education. I am currently looking at how to fund higher education to make the 13th year free. I believe education is one of the best investments we can make in our citizens, and I will continue to focus my efforts there.

Yes, as I said I am looking at ways to make the 13th year free for Washington residents.

That is higher education in the broadest sense, not just 4 year degree producing programs. It would include our CC’s, and credentialed apprenticeships.

Education and Higher Education needs the Legislature full effort to increased funding for a positive future.

I believe that the SNG are essential for so many of our students with incomes below $56k, that is a program that I can support.

I believe that there should be a fair and equitable fund split among the Universities.

Yes, I believe in STEM for all Washington students.

I favor competition and more private funding and parental control in colleges. The cost of college education is up over 200% in just the last three decades, even adjusted for inflation. A major factor in this increase is ballooning faculty bureaucracy (Forbes "Bureaucrats and Buildings" September 7th, 2017). These bureaucrats are largely being paid by student loans, which have increased as the cost of college has increased. I believe the answer is not more state funding, the answer is competition in the education market, austerity on the part of college faculties and a return to classical education with an emphasis on literature, humanities, math and science.

I believe the State Need Grant is currently too large in scope. It represents over 85% of the Washington State combined financial aid programs. SNG alone clocks in at over half a percent of a 44 billion dollar state budget and applies to almost as many students as the total student populations of the UW and WSU combined. The average household income of a recipient is almost $30,000, and is $3,000 above poverty level. Average student benefit for SNG is over $4,000. I think if we had more competition in higher education, and colleges primarily paid professors rather than supporting large bureaucracies among the faculty, that some of the pressure for state aid could be alleviated. I also think it's still possible to primarily work one's way through college and rely mostly on night courses and community college for the first couple years of secondary education.

State fund split for the UW should be in line with that of other public institutions in the state, and I would favor all institutions involved relying more on student tuition than on state funding.

We already provide overall support to the colleges and programs to help with tuition for disadvantaged students. I believe college should be primarily funded by students, and institutions should be free to allocate their dollars as they see fit and then either succeed or fail in competition with other colleges.

I absolutely support higher education and have personally invested in earning a BA in Political Science, a Master of Public Administration, and a Master of Strategic Security Studies. Having said that, I will support appropriate and necessary funding levels for higher education in Washington. I will also expect and demand those tax dollars be put to maximum effective use.

While revenue forecasts have been up, there have been a number of unanticipated costs and savings projections that haven't come in as anticipated. And while we have met the Supreme Court's requirements on McCleary, there continue to be investments in K-12 that must be made. That being said, I strongly support significant investments in our higher education system in the next biennium.

I hope and will work towards eliminating the State Need Grant waiting list in the next biennium and not taking the 4 years to get that accomplished. This is one of my top priorities.

We need to be equitable in how we distribute funds to our higher education institutions.

Yes. STEM, computer science, health care and other high demand programs need to be a high priority. Our economy depends on a workforce that industries can count on.

I would stress that support be contingent upon quality of education that assess metrics of employment following education. I understand there is a dilemma for universities to decide if they are to invest in Professors for education ends or research ends. We must remain focused on the value that inspiring educators play in our next generation of inventors, physicians, and leaders of tomorrow. This cannot be lost by an institution while pursuing publication greatness.

As a professor at WWU, I have students that should be getting straight As but aren't because they don't have enough time to study when they are working three jobs. This is incredibly frustrating and deeply unfair to those students. Let's change this.

Yes. I am supportive of continued reinvestment in an effective higher education system. While I am pleased with what the Legislature did in 2017 in regards to changes in compensation for educators, Washington has not fulfilled its constitutional “paramount duty” to amply fund quality public education until we have done all we can to ensure every student graduates high school prepared to pursue the career or further education that they are passionate about. Additionally, the achievement gap between students of color and different abilities needs to be addressed. I believe that increased funding for public education (at all levels) can and should come from tax reform. In my view, we need to clean up our current tax code so less of the burden is placed on low and middle-income earners, and we also need to pursue additional revenue sources like a capital gains tax and a carbon tax. I would like to see more investment in mental health and addiction counselors, health centers on campus, and special education teachers at the college level. I think we need to be intentional about investing first, in underserved communities where the opportunity gap is the greatest.

Absolutely! Ensuring that college education is available to everyone is essential. I think college education should be accessible and affordable. In addition, I strongly support college loan repayment relief and college loan monthly payments no more than 10% of net income. I am appalled at the college debt that we are allowing our kids to be burdened with. Our state should lead the way in providing relief from unreasonable college debt, interest rates, and repayment rates.

Yes. I support increases so that UW continues to have an equitable fund split. Increased state investment in UW is not only equitable (in comparison to the funds received by other public universities) but it will reduce the burden on student tuition revenue.

Yes. Washington leads the way in many technology and biotechnology industries and I am supportive of having career paths for all people.

Higher education has become an expectation for almost any job, yet we have made it harder and harder to fund and pay for this investment. I believe in a cradle-to-career approach to education: ensuring quality childcare resources, K-12 education and free college, technical training and robust apprenticeship opportunities. Education is how we ensure the success of our children and our economic future.

It is a failure of our society when even a single kid graduates high school and college and cannot find a job or simply does not feel like they can succeed in America. We need to strengthen our education system so that every person has access to affordable college, apprenticeships, and technical training.

It is critical that we ensure that money is never a barrier between a student and their education. I will absolutely stand behind the promise we made last session to fully fund the State Need Grant.

All teachers and staff deserve to be paid a good wage with benefits, regardless of where they teach and I will work to ensure an equitable funding split. All public universities deserve equitable funding, and it is vital we continue to invest fairly in our education system so that everyone can receive the high-quality education we are proud of in our state.

The next generation of good jobs will be in STEM sectors and we need to make sure our children and students have the tools they need to succeed in these fields and continue our state’s economic growth.

I'd like to build on my Earnings for Graduates work from 2014 to provide additional funding linked to the market value of their post-secondary education. (https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/the-degrees-that-really-pay-off-for-graduates-in-washington/)

We now consider local cost of living in the Regionalization Factor that I negotiated for McCleary. We should do something similar for higher education.

This has been a big priority of mine, and I've partnered with Rep. Drew Hansen to pass many bills in this area.

I’m proud that in 2018 we were able to extend the promise of College Bound eligibility to our Dreamers. College Bound is a program that helps low-income Washington State students with college tuition. We also successfully passed SB 6514 to provide more resources for higher education, with an emphasis on our student veterans, to improve mental health services and combat student suicide. I look forward to the difference that will make in the lives of our students and veterans. Additionally, I co-sponsored SB 5666 in the last session to create the Washington Promise Program which would provide a tuition waiver for the first two years of community or technical college. While it did not become law in 2018, I will continue to advocate for it in 2019.

Fully funding the State Need Grant - so that all of our students can have the promise of an education without debt - is a key priority for me.

I will work with UW and our community and technical colleagues to make sure all our higher institutions have parity.

I will work with my colleagues to ensure that we support all Washingtonians who want to enter the STEM and healthcare fields. I do note that 41% of STEM students at UW are women - my expectation is that number would rise to parity with the percentage of male STEM students. We must ensure that our students of color, our immigrant students, and our first-generation college students are all welcome and succeed in these programs.

We have turned the corner on correcting the poor budgeting from just before I was elected, which put too much financial burden on students. I hope to continue this trend.

I have specific plans and a bill to make this easier to do, where we can provide 8000 more State Need Grants to students and ZERO cost to the state.

Too many STEM jobs are going unfilled in Washington. Filling them with home grown students is best for the individuals and best for Washington State.

Our institutes of higher education are one of our state’s great assets. We should do all we can to ensure they best serve students and faculty and can continue growing and innovating.

We need to make sure that regardless of income level, all can both pursue higher education and succeed as students.

UW is not only one of the best universities in the country, it’s one of the best in the world. I think it’s it is imperative that UW and the Legislature work together to make sure our state does its part to support and fund UW.

These fields are critically important. Washington should do all we can to make sure students in our state have access to the highest quality programs in these fields, additionally providing them at affordable rates.

Within responsible fiscal policy

Within responsible fiscal policy

Within responsible fiscal policy

Within responsible fiscal policy

my top priority

I feel strongly about this. I was slated to attend the MIT program at WSU-TC (please don't hold being a WSU Alumna against me) when the program was cut at that campus because of the recession. Having affordable, good quality higher education programs available to our students is key to attracting and retaining our best and brightest.

I don't know enough to answer this question.

Investments in education are a priority for our state.

The State Need Grant makes it possible for low-income students to obtain a higher education. Funding the SNG must be maintained so that access to a better economic future is not limited to only those that can personally afford to pay the high cost of college.

Equity in funding is critical for all our institutions.

Preparing our students for high-demand fields of employment makes sense from both an investment of time and funding. I support programs aimed at reaching students throughout their education career and highlighting the opportunities available in science, technology, engineering, math, and healthcare.

I am the dean of the School of Education at Whitworth University. I am strongly supportive of this state funding.

I was a UW staff member during the Great Recession. I watched as faculty and staff salaries were frozen. I also saw dozens of faculty recruited to other universities in other states because UW couldn't make counter-offers. And I worked with graduate and undergraduate students who couldn't afford the next quarter's tuition. It was brutal. I am running for re-election to address one of the most serious risks we face in the coming decade: lack of stable, predictable revenues to fund higher education institutions and the State Need Grant. Our state's population growth will begin to stress the existing higher educational infrastructure. We must create access to institutions so that our students can live where they work and pursue college credentials. We must stabilize funding year over year and give our institutions more predictability to hire and retain faculty, expand student financial aid, invest in capital facilities, and provide necessary support to a more diverse student body. I want to build stronger and more transparent relationships among high schools, Community and Technical Colleges, our 4-year institutions, and our career and trades apprentice programs so that students can move seamlessly throughout the higher education system as they acquire skills and identify gaps in their knowledge while working. I want to build the higher educational network for the 21st century. It's going to take some work, but there are many legislators who share my commitment to this goal.

My colleagues and I worked for six years to make the case to fully fund the State Need Grant. Every year, we showed where students were being denied equal access to a college education simply because the legislature did not make funding the SNG a priority. In 2018, the House Higher Education Committee made fully funding the SNG our shared top priority. I will continue to make this an absolutely essential responsibility of the state. I have worked for six years to freeze tuition, expand funding to our public higher education institutions, fully fund the State Need Grant, and expand eligibility for in-state tuition so that veterans and their families are able to access higher education benefits as soon as they separate from their military service. I am now focused on those 250,000+ 8th graders who have taken the college-bound pledge during the past 5 years. We made a promise to them that if they earned a high school diploma, we would pay for their tuition to go to college. This is why I will do everything I can to fully fund the State Need Grant, even as those who qualify grow in numbers. We made a promise. We must deliver.

When it comes to equitable funding of our public higher educational institutions, the state legislature must not say "some but not all" get equal funding. I was a UW development officer. I helped UW faculty compete for research grants from the federal government and private donors. I am in a unique position in Olympia to help my colleagues understand that we must not penalize UW for being successful at competing for and winning research grants. We must not assume that UW can cover expenses that the state doesn't want to pay. If we want to give every student equal access to an excellent education in our public universities and colleges, then we must treat the faculty equally.

I am acutely aware that the state must be strategic about supporting high-demand degrees to support our state's diverse economy. As a Higher Education committee member, Vice Chair of Technology and Economic Development, and Vice President of the Pacific Northwest Economic Region (PNWER), I know that our state's economic vitality and resilience require investments in critical future workforce needs. I have collaborated with colleagues to push funding for high-demand degree programs while supporting capital budget requests to build the classrooms and laboratories these students and faculty need. We can't expand student enrollment if there are no places for them to take classes and work in well-equipped labs. Our 4-year and 2-year colleges and universities all need investments. I've been so grateful to UW Impact for its collaboration with other universities to support equal access to opportunities for all our students. And I will never forget that I was a history major. Just because certain fields are "high-demand" today, does not mean that we can ignore supporting degree programs in the arts, social sciences, and interdisciplinary fields. Our students need opportunities to explore new ideas and new fields. I will fight to support what students demand today, while also funding programs that will allow students to create what become the new high-demand fields.

I have been one of the leaders in insuring that we made the commitment to get to zero backlog on the SNG. I also support its eventual expansion in eligibility to help those in the near middle and middle class be less reliant on debt to finance their education.

Yes - as capital budget lead and as vice chair of the Ways & Means committee last year I have supported the epansion of and new buildings for the engineering and computer science departments and also investment in additional STEM slots in those departments.

I do support additional funding for education, but not for bloated administrative costs. Money put into higher education should have one goal: to make going to college more affordable to those that need it most.

Higher education is an aspiration that everyone, regardless of race or creed, should be able to acquire.

I say yes with a few reservations. Compensation should be fair, but it shouldn't be arbitrary. Depending on the history of increases and the availability of resources, I might support funding to other aspects (like expanding opportunities for students) over increased faculty compensation.

Yes. The capacity and quality of programs for these degrees should certainly be protected and expanded.

While the legislature’s work to fund K-12 public education is far from done, it is imperative that will significantly increase investments in higher education to ensure equitable access to opportunity, and ensuring students in Washington can obtain jobs in the industries we know are growing in our state, including healthcare, science, and technology.

The 43rd District is fortunate to have the greatest number of higher education students of any district in the state. It is imperative that we work to ensure all eligible students can receive the support they need to attend college. I will fight hard to fulfill the commitment the legislature made to fully fund the State Need Grant by 2022.

I was a strong proponent of adjusting funding to UW to ensure equity across our higher education institutions. Many UW faculty and staff members live in the 43rd District, and have shared the challenges as the cost of living has rapidly increased in the Seattle area. I will continue to work for adequate and equitable funding for UW and other institutions across the state.

We are facing significant workforce shortages in healthcare, and other science, engineering and technology fields. We must invest to ensure we have ample capacity to meet the demand in this discipline. This means attracting and retaining faculty and staff, and making some needed capital investments in classrooms and labs.

McCleary is still not fully solved and will require work next session, and investment in education is my main priority right behind healthcare reform. I'm proud to have the backing of the unions because they know I will fight to rectify funding shortfalls.

It was because of the SNG that I was able to go back to school and build a better life as a single mom and a non-traditional student. I'm committed to ensuring that students working to better their station in life have that opportunity.

We will have our work cut out for us with this round of budget talks but I promise to listen to all concerns and always strive for equity in tough decisions.

To make this work we have to do more that "work with our colleagues" we have to lead in the solutions. I propose we start with some serious consideration of the way we "general fund" manage the income and start earmarking certain revenues to goal. This will stop the legislature from funding on the "oh look shiny" method of finance.

Your current lawmakers have no intention of actually following through with that commitment, there is no plan, no path and no method to fund it.

In addition, I would also propose we partner with area businesses who would benefit most from these roles. I would like to find opportunities to fund low income programs via corporate partnerships as well.

My father was a professor at the University of Washington for 30 years. My mother was also a professor. I am very familiar with and concerned about the funding challenges. My parents were always concerned about budget cuts to their department and fought hard to maintain the integrity and quality of their work. It shouldn’t have to be this way. They should just be able to do their job without worrying about cuts.

One’s financial situation should never be a barrier to access high-quality university education.

Yes. It makes no sense when local companies hire from out of state while children of local residents can’t afford to live in the area but aren’t trained to fill those jobs. We need to give local people better access to stem education so they can fill the great tech related jobs that are available.

We need to make sure that we have resources and opportunity for all high school students to pursue higher education.

Education is not a Democrat or Republican issue. We should work in a bi-partisian manner to make sure that we are investing in our future leaders when it comes to education.

Our students should have a strong understanding of the jobs and careers that are in high demand and then we should give them the support to pursue those careers.