As the final week of the legislative session in Olympia begins, it is becoming increasingly evident that the legislature will not finish its budget work on time and will require a special session to complete the operating and capital budgets.

In perusing both House and Senate version of the budgets, there are some significant differences between the two versions.  WTIA tracks the K-12 and higher education budgets, particularly the amounts being spent on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, or STEM.

In K-12 the issues that relate to the tech industry are around improving math and science achievement by our state’s students.  Washington students are middling at best at math and science.  Improvements are occurring slowly but surely.  Now that high schoolers have to pass a math test (two next year) to graduate, the passage rates are improving.  In science, the standards are weak and new ones are being developed by a consortium of states, which will then inform new curriculum and testing.  Washington students will have to start passing a science test (presumably biology) by 2015 to graduate from high school.

If Washington students get better math and science education at a younger age, their skills will improve and hopefully more students will develop an interest in science majors in college, leading to more computer scientists and engineers, where the jobs are much more plentiful than in many other fields.

WTIA also advocates for more STEM graduates from Washington universities, primarily in the areas of computer science and electrical engineering that drive the state’s technology-based industries.

In both House and Senate versions of the state operating budget, SB 5034, there is $2.442 million for the K-20 network, $712K for LASER and $4 million for the IT Academy—a “public private” partnership between the state and Microsoft to increase teacher and student IT skills.

In the House budget for K-12, the funds to implement HB 1472, AP computer science, are included.  The House puts an additional $1.96 million for school district technology and $2.54 million for career and technical education grants to schools, of which $600K is devoted to FIRST Robotics.

The House spends $17 million more on “education reform” efforts than the Senate; $452 million vs. $435 million.

On the higher education side, the Senate budget is slightly higher than the House’s but assumes a small reduction in tuition, while the House assumes a 3-5% tuition increase.  The House is more intentional than the Senate on STEM degrees, appropriating $16.5 million at UW and $10.39 million at WSU for computer science and engineering.  Western Washington Univ. gets $5.9 million for computer science.  The Senate budget is silent on those STEM specific appropriations.

WTIA will continue to track the state operating budget until it is finalized and voted on.  Hopefully that will come sooner rather than later.

Bill page for operating budget, SB 5034: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=5034&year=2013