State budget error leaves Washington community colleges facing $28.5 million shortfall
OLYMPIA – In August, the Office of Financial Management discovered a $28.5 million error in Washington state’s budget that will impact community and technical colleges across the state.
The error was uncovered when the OFM was preparing for the 2025–2027 budget – they found a discrepancy in the numbers for the 2023–2025 budget.
The discrepancy was in the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges’ overall budget for all the colleges, according to Choi Halladay, deputy executive director of business operations for the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges.
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He said there was a double count in the in the section of dollars used for faculty and staff cost of living.
“In some digging by the Office of Financial Management and other legislative staff, they figured out that we ended up putting that amount of money in twice into the portion that went to the community colleges,” Halladay said. “And what that double count was, was in the section of dollars that are used for giving cost of living increases to faculty and classified staff at community and technical colleges.”
In a memo sent to board members, the OFM notified officials at the state Board for Community and Technical Colleges that a $28,527,000 appropriation had been “duplicated” in the current budget and “must be unallocated to colleges.”
Meanwhile, the state board voted to submit a budget request aimed at maintaining financial stability for community colleges, either by increasing the system’s base funding or enhancing the appropriation for the College Affordability Program, according to a news article by the Washington State Standard.
The program mandates compensation to community colleges for revenue lost due to the 5% tuition reduction implemented in 2015.
Halladay added he’s heard colleges will try to make cuts in their budget without affecting student services.
“Generally, what we’ve been hearing from colleges is cutting back on tutoring services, cutting back on student support services, not filling open positions, and delaying building repairs,” Halladay said. “Colleges are doing whatever they can to keep services going for students while reducing the budget in other areas.”
The Wenatchee Valley College Vice President of Administrative Services, Brett Riley said he thinks it’s “too early” to discuss the colleges’ finances because there are variables they don’t know.
“The (college) presidents are meeting with the state board staff and might have more information later,” Riley said. “We just don’t know the scope yet.”
During this time, the board is exploring alternative funding sources to lessen the financial impact the budget error could have on colleges across the state.
“We have some ideas that we’ve shared with the Office of Financial Management, but it’s too early to talk about them publicly because there are constituent groups that would have a say, and we haven’t had enough time to work with them yet,” Halladay said. “But yes, we’ve definitely looked into a lot of options to fill the gap and maintain services for students and communities.”