Kitsap Caucus secures funding for higher education on peninsula

OLYMPIA — The 2008 Conference Committee Operating Budget, expected to be passed by the Legislature on Thursday, includes $212,000 for the Higher Education Coordinating Board to develop a program and operating plan for a university center in the Kitsap County area that will expand higher education opportunities for residents of the Kitsap and Olympic peninsulas.

“I think this funding is a good start to establishing more opportunities for people to pursue post-secondary education on the Kitsap Peninsula,” said Sen. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, who serves as vice-chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee. “That’s really going to help working people and businesses in our region.”

Kilmer’s Senate Bill 5978 was cosponsored by fellow Kitsap colleagues Sen. Tim Sheldon, D-Potlatch, and Sen. Phil Rockefeller, D-Kitsap County, who were instrumental in helping it move from the Senate Higher Ed. Committee, where Kilmer and Sheldon serve together, to the Senate Ways & Means Committee where Rockefeller has a seat. Once the bill passed from Higher Education to Ways & Means, its request for funding was incorporated into the 2008 Proposed Senate Operating Budget.

After being approved by the Senate, the proposed budget was sent to the House for consideration — where the six members who represent Kitsap County in that chamber went to work supporting it.

“Our leadership here knew that our entire delegation insisted on this higher education investment for the future of our West Sound community,” Rep. Larry Seaquist, D-Gig Harbor, said. “In making this happen, the difference was teamwork.”

“This project will launch an idea whose time has finally come,” Rep. Pat Lantz, D-Gig Harbor, said. “It's extremely satisfying for this to be one of my final accomplishments representing my district; it might be my most lasting accomplishment at that.”

“In the face of rising costs to cross the sound, either by ferry or road, it's become increasingly important to have a baccalaureate program here in Kitsap for local students,” Rep. Sherry Appleton, D-Poulsbo, said. “This would also be an economic engine for our community. Taking this first step is a huge win for our community.”

“Our education and our future will be limited only by the decisions we make today," Rep. Christine Rolfes, D-Bainbridge Island  said, "Now the hard work begins.”

Rolfes also had praise for a team of local Kitsap citizens who participated in guiding the work of the Kitsap Baccalaureate Research Project, which advocated for the funding.

“It was the community that made the difference. Under the leadership of Dr. Charlotte Garrido, business and community leaders from all across the West Sound region contributed time and money in a ‘bootstraps’ effort to lay the groundwork,” Rolfes said. “That work saved the taxpayers more than a quarter of a million dollars.”

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