House and Senate Higher Ed Committees focus on curbing costs and access.

Your Washington State PTA passed a platform which includes increased access to higher education for all Washington's children.  Led by veteran PTA member, Heidi Bennett, our legislative team has been following, supporting, and opposing several bills that have been heard in both committees.  One of these key bills is House Bill 1982 which is designed to help low performing / high-risk students achieve academic success through the use of partnerships with our higher education institutions and not-for-profit agencies.  Another is House Bill 1500 which studies cost drivers in Higher Education. Finally, our team opposed House Bill 1154 which would have developed a pay it forward program by using existing funds from our State Need Grants and College Bound Scholarship Program.  Although the WSPTA has gone on record supporting a Pay It Forward Program, we cannot support cannibalizing our existing grant and scholarship funds to do so.  If you would like to learn more about other bills your Higher Education Access team is working on, click here and sign up to be on the Top 5 list for "Increasing Access to Higher Education."