Gregoire backs college surcharge

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire Tuesday proposed a surcharge that might enable the state’s four-year campuses to minimize enrollment cutbacks, but that may not help Spokane’s Rick Hensley, who lost his radiology job in January.

Hensley asked Gregoire, who was holding a business roundtable at Spokane Community College, to assure funding for a Yakima Valley Community College program that will enable him to upgrade his skills and get back into the profession.

He said officials at the Yakima school have suggested he hang onto his application until they know whether they will have the funding to accommodate him.

Gregoire told Hensley that requests from all sides to spare vulnerable programs were not giving her much leeway.

“I pray November will finally see us turning around,” she said, referring to a succession of dismal state revenue forecasts.

But Gregoire said after the session with Spokane business and education leaders that their almost universal plea that the state not cut support for education reinforced her determination to keep as many students as possible on Washington campuses.

To help do that, she said she wants to give four-year schools the ability to impose a surcharge on some of the increased grants and tax credits students will receive under President Obama’s stimulus package. The surcharge would be an addition to the 7 percent tuition increases colleges and universities are authorized to impose.

Business owners said they want the state to take steps that will improve Washington’s competitive position internationally, and against neighboring states. Among their comments:

•Greater Spokane Incorporated President Rich Hadley said the community needs more “game-changer” initiatives, like the recent expansion of the University of Washington’s medical and dental schools onto the downtown Riverpoint Campus.

•Nancy Voorhees, chief operating officer of Inland Northwest Health Systems, said the company is ready to expand its telemedicine programs into more states, given more state and federal aid. A program that has helped the state control workers compensation costs could be applied to diabetes monitoring and treatment, she said.

Gregoire said state government can help on several fronts. But during the Great Depression, she said, it was communities and neighbors helping each other out that got people through those hard times.

“We’re all focused on how do we get through this, but we have to look beyond,” she said. “We sure won’t make it through it if we don’t stick together.”