A Seattle Times op-ed by attorney and former UW Regent Stan Barer and UW Law professor Hugh Spitzer argues that the state has a constitutional funding obligation to its universities, as well as to K-12 education.
“What this means, from a practical standpoint, is that the Legislature cannot lawfully throw our public universities under the bus …”
“But since the 1980s, we have witnessed a massive reduction in state per-student funding for higher education. For example, in the 2009-2011 biennium, state per-student funding for the same programs dropped to $7,122, and by the 2011-2013 biennium, state per-student funding dropped to $5,000.”
Read more here.