Vancouver newspaper comments on higher education budget proposal

With the HECB in Vancouver for its November meeting, the city’s daily newspaper had a good chance to look closely at the important budget decisions made at the meeting. An editorial in The Columbian later said the higher education budget proposal adopted by the Board, which is aimed at creating greater stability in funding for public colleges and universities, was “highly reasonable.”

Among other things, the editorial pointed out the importance of higher education to the state’s economic future. While the state’s great job providers traditionally have been larger employers such as Microsoft and Boeing, today “the path to economic recovery is traveled mostly by small or medium-sized companies that are more dependent on local work forces and, thus, local and state education levels,” the editorial said.