A Holiday Gift for Evergreen …and Caution for the New Year
Holiday Gift!
On December 23, Governor Ferguson released his 2026 supplemental operating budget with cuts across the board to state agencies, institutions and higher education. However, embedded in his proposal is a spark of hope for Evergreen.
The Governor and his staff were impressed with our early “powerful advocacy” even before the 2026 legislative session started. But even more impressive has been the 4% enrollment growth each year for the past four years. In fact, the 2025 Fall quarter saw a 6.5% growth in enrollment. The Governor was pleased to see the per student costs dropping because our enrollment growth.
He decided Evergreen should NOT be penalize for per student costs and recommends to the 2026 Legislature to “revert” the unique $2.7 cut Evergreen is slated to take in July 2026. However, Ferguson’s budget still requires Evergreen, along with other regional four-year institutions, to take a modest $915,000 total cut. But, the Governor’s budget, does not penalize Evergreen with additional $2.7 million cut as was voted on last session.
Caution!
That said…we cannot relax our advocacy. The 2026 Legislature must now create and adopt their own budget by end of February. Ferguson’s budget puts Evergreen on a stronger footing, but the outcome is still uncertain as the Legislature grapples with a $2.3 billion budget shortfall. They could re-instate the unfair $2.7 million cut for Evergreen.
The legislative session starts January 12, and we’ll need to make the case with Senate and House budget and higher education leaders that our enrollment growth has reduced per student costs. We do not deserve another penalty cut on top of the across-the-board cuts.
Next Steps for Evergreen Advocates…
January 8 Thursday at 5pm on ZOOM
Join Evergreen President John Carmichael and other Evergreen Advocates to talk about 2026 legislative strategy and prognosis. If you’d like to join and we’ll send you the Zoom link. Contact us here: [email protected]
January 20 Tuesday Lobby Day in Olympia
Send in your RSVP very soon so we can reserve time with legislators (hopefully yours!)
RSVP LINK HERE: [email protected]