‘Silver Tsunami’ could change at WA College with low registration
John Braun, who serves as the Republican minority leader in the Senate of the State, said that the trend of the population of Washington is getting older – ie the “Silver Tsunami” – requires new priorities for education and training of more health workers who can the growing share Hosting older Washingtonians.
Evergreen State College – located in the capital of the state of Olympia – has seen falling registration numbers in recent years. Braun quotes one May 2024 News story From a local newspaper, where a university officer mentioned a more complex federal student aid application as an important culprit for the low registration figure.
The bill has been referred to the higher education and personnel development committee of the state of Senate. RMD reached the chairman of the committee, senator T’wina Nobles (D), who refused to comment. Outreach to Evergreen State College was not reduced.
But Braun spoke with RMD and said that tackling the needs of older Washingtonians starts to strengthen the labor force that is equipped to provide care. He said he is hopeful that his senate colleagues will understand that to achieve such a goal, they need more capacity for dedicated education.
“The bottom line is that we have fewer people interested in the unique educational possibilities available at Evergreen,” he said, adding that it is not his intention to “choose Evergreen”, as some of his colleagues have in the past done . Instead, decreasing registrations suggested that the state could better use the facilities by looking at the issue of an aging population.
Braun added that registration to the Evergreen State College far from what it was in the early years 2010. The college was founded in 1967.
“The full-time registration of 2,386 in 2024 is identical to registration in 1982 and less than half of what it was in 2009-2011,” said Braun when he announced the proposal.
This would be a goal in the longer term and preliminary conversations he had with fellow legislators and newly beaten GOV. Bob Ferguson (D) have shown a wide range of reactions. The laws in the same district as the college are resistant, but Braun said that the governor was at least intrigued by the concept without committing somehow.
The costs to renovate the existing campus would be a concern for some of his colleagues, Braun said. But the financing that now goes to the college is pronounced, and investing in the workforce of the future that can better accommodate, would be an incentive for legislators and the community of the college, he said.
Like many of the country, Washington is confronted with an increase in the number of older residents in the coming years, together with a shortage of employees to take care of them. Braun claims that the re -use of the college can help to accept this challenge.
“We have to look for incremental improvements. I think that is our best chance of political, and from a ‘non-damage’ perspective, “he said. “And my small incremental piece is, how do we make staff stronger and more available? It is the evergreen account. “
In contrast to a large part of the country, Washington has already taken some action to tackle the later needs of the residents. In 2019, the state legislator only approved the establishment of a new wage tax with a view to financing long -term health insurance. The “WA Cares” tax has a lifelong maximum advantage that starts at $ 36,500, with a cap indexed for inflation.
Anti-tax lawyers in the State have successfully placed an initiative on the November 2024 vote that the registration would have made with the program voluntarily instead of mandatory, but Washington rejected voters The initiative, 55% to 45%.
