We all agree. The board of trustees, students and staff of Green River College all agree. We all agree that our community and technical colleges need more funding.

Salaries are set by the state legislators. Tuition is set by the state legislators. We all agree that the state Legislature needs to provide additional funding.

We all agree that the impending fiscal challenges of closing a $4.4 million budget gap is onerous and impacts student success. We all agree that we should not have to face fiscal challenges brought about by a change in the state allocation model and the Moore v. HCA health care judgment incurred by the state.

We all agree that the Legislature should pay greater attention to community and technical colleges—the schools that serve the most diverse populations and most impact the middle-class.

Today, our state legislators plan to provide $13,554 for each K-12 student, $9,560 for each student at the big universities, $6,527 for each student at a four-year college, but your community and technical colleges – which support the trades, which provide a pathway for students for upward mobility, which welcome all learners – will receive $5,912 for each student.

As an open access institution, Green River College levels the playing field by providing opportunities for all students to transform their lives through education, and we are now receiving the least of any part of the educational system.

We all agree that the state Legislature needs to provide additional funding.

Your community colleges in the state of Washington are under tremendous financial stress. For over 30 years, Green River has been able to buffer staff, faculty and students from multiple economic recessions. The college took this approach with the best intentions and with the thought that state revenues would return to at least average levels.

Funding levels have not rebounded and the college’s ability to operate as it has in the past has come to an end. The change in circumstance is frightening to all involved and that fear is entirely understandable. As many families and business have had to do over the same period of time, the college has a responsibility to view the fiscal environment as it truly is, not as we would like it to be.

We want the public to be informed.

Green River is not cutting history or math from its offerings. Program reduction decisions have not been made. Staff is looking at every line item in the budget for potential reduction.

Green River College is not on a building construction spending spree. Newly constructed college buildings have been in the works for nearly a decade. State building projects are not decided one season and completed the next; typically, the entire process from start to finish takes more than seven years. This information has been shared in multiple public forums and to our College Council.

Green River College is an excellent steward of the students’ and public’s dollars, with clean audits to support this. The fiscal problem lies in large part with declining state support, decreasing enrollment trends, and changes made to the state allocation model.

We all agree. The board of trustees, students and staff want to see every student have the resources to achieve his or her goal. That, unfortunately, is not the case. We must manage in a fiscally responsible manner; to do otherwise would be financially irresponsible.

Green River must be a responsible steward of state resources. As we celebrate the College’s 50th Anniversary this year, we must engage in sound business practices to ensure its success for the next 50 years. This is an ethical duty the college owes to taxpayers, our communities and the employees of Green River College, and one that Green River intends to uphold.

Green River has created a webpage of factual information about the college. On this site you will find data about enrollment, administrative and faculty salaries, capital projects and the current budget gap. This information is available at: www.greenriver.edu/ask.

For 50 years, Green River College has done powerful work. Across the college, faculty and staff work to serve students and provide a pathway to further education or a high-demand career. We all agree that student success is at the core of everything we do and will be for at least another 50 years.

Pete Lewis, former Auburn mayor, is chair of the Green River College Board of Trustees.