State support lacking

I don’t think Paul Wham is going to like the answer to his question in the July 1 paper: He needs to pay more in taxes.

Eastern Washington University may have been a “state supported” university in 1959, but for years the best one could say is that it is a “state assisted” university and that state assistance keeps decreasing. The support for K-12 education is mandated by state law, and so when state revenues decrease, money spent there can’t decrease.

The level of support for higher education is not mandated, and so cutting back that support when state revenues decline is a very attractive option for Olympia.

Short of striking oil under the Capitol dome in Olympia, the state is limited to revenue from taxes, among other things.

The annual budget by law must be balanced. Increasing money for higher education means decreasing money elsewhere. But what gets cut? Every program has its supporters.

Full disclosure: As of July 1, I am retired as a professor of computer science at Eastern. I am well aware of how tight the purse strings are.

Timothy Rolfe, Ph.D.

Spokane