H-1668.1
HOUSE BILL 2065
State of Washington
69th Legislature
2025 Regular Session
By Representative Couture
Read first time 03/28/25. Referred to Committee on Postsecondary Education & Workforce.
AN ACT Relating to reducing administrative staffing at institutions of higher education; adding a new section to chapter 28B.07 RCW; creating a new section; and declaring an emergency.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that higher education is one of the great equalizers for reducing inequality, but the cost of a college education has exploded making higher education less accessible to lower class and middle class families. In support of our public institutions, the legislature has provided extensive financial support, including recently dedicating an entire tax stream to the state's colleges. Because these institutions receive public funds, the legislature and state taxpayers expect that they deliver an education that is both high quality and cost-effective. However, the legislature finds that alarming growth in administrative bureaucracy has made higher education less affordable for families and more expensive to taxpayers.
The legislature further finds that since 1994, the faculty-to-student ratio increased 60 percent while the administrator-to-student ratio increased by 245 percent. The legislature finds that institutional priorities over the past decade have been excessively focused on services that occur outside the classroom. The burgeoning administrative bureaucracy and related costs have unnecessarily increased the cost of higher education and are not aligned with the mission of delivering a high quality and cost-effective education. Therefore, the legislature intends for institutions to reduce their administrator-to-student ratios to 2008 levels, the high water mark prior to the great recession. In doing so, the legislature will generate millions of dollars of savings to taxpayers and will reduce the cost of a degree, making college more accessible and affordable for all Washington families.