Statement by Rep. Dave Upthegrove (D - Des Moines) on passage of House Bill 2344 (Regarding undergraduate tuition)

April 22, 2009

I began my involvement in politics as a Student Union representative in college and as an officer in a statewide student association. In these roles, I organized, rallied and fought against tuition increases on students.

In the Legislature, I have historically opposed large unanticipated tuition increases. I am one of a handful of legislators who has consistently opposed institutional tuition setting authority. I continue to believe that tuition decisions are best made by elected legislators, rather than unelected Boards of Regents.

I do not personally believe in the so-called “high tuition – high financial aid” model. I worry that families in the middle will be left out. If not now, then in the future. I believe the best form of financial aid is low tuition.

I believe that framing the issue as one of either raising tuition or harming the quality of our colleges and universities is a false choice. We have other ways to fund higher education. None of the choices are good ones, and none are easy, but we do have other revenue and spending options.

I believe that there is room at our four year universities, particularly the University of Washington, for significant structural and administrative reform. Do we need every Vice-Provost? Why are we paying half-a-million dollars to the University President? Does the obsession with athletics over academics help or hurt the focus on academics? The stereotype of an “ivory tower” actually rings true to my ears.

Why, then, would I vote for this tuition increase? I’m not sure folks will understand, but I will try to explain.

I am a member of the majority party, with a responsibility for passing a state budget. As we develop the budget, we all fight and push for a budget that reflects what we want to see as individual legislators. Through this give-and-take, we end up with a budget that is brought forward for final passage. The budget depends upon passage of a package of bills (such as the tuition bill) to implement the budget. For all of us in the majority party, there are aspects of the budget we agree with, and aspects with which we disagree. A number of us fought and pushed as hard as we could to prevent the tuition increase from being included. We were unsuccessful. At the end of the day, I then needed to look at the final budget as a whole and decide whether I am going to help get the final budget passed or not. As a committee chairman, I have been involved in the development of other aspects of the budget, and I also have worked with budget leaders on local budget priorities. While my views did not prevail on tuition, I did play a constructive role in shaping other aspects of the budget. I reached the conclusion that I have a responsibility to help get the budget passed, and that this will involve supporting aspects of the budget with which I strongly disagree.

In addition, I reached the conclusion that the bill would pass, with or without my vote. If I voted no, then there would be another member of my party who would have voted yes instead of me. In other words, it became clear to me that the bill was going to pass and the only question was which members of the majority party would provide the votes. By voting yes, I allowed another member of my party to vote no on this politically unpopular bill.

This is more candid than most legislators share publically, but it hopefully gives you an insight into the sausage-making of legislation and budgets. The decision kept me awake last night and makes me sick to my stomach, but I believe it was the correct vote for me to cast in this situation.

I am committed to working in the future to establish a clear, stable and responsible tuition policy which respects the financial challenges facing students and their families. I also am committed to holding our four-year universities accountable for structural reform, and hope that the performance audit included in this legislation helps inform that process.

If you have any questions, please feel free to give me a call.