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Board says coordinated outreach, including a new legislative caucus, helped protect WEA funds this session
Summary
Board leaders credited coordinated advocacy and a newly formed higher-education legislative caucus with preventing additional supplanting of WEA funds in the 2026 legislative session, while noting one-time accounting swaps and modest new investments across institutions.
The WEA board on Zoom said coordinated outreach with legislators — including a new higher-education legislative caucus — helped stop proposals to supplant additional WEA funds during the 2026 legislative session.
Joel (staff member) told the board that “no additional funding was supplanted with WEA” after early proposals from the governor and the Senate would have shifted tens or hundreds of millions, and he cited the final budget’s use of one-time swaps and bond proceeds to backfill institution accounts. "Originally, the governor's office had proposed an additional $50,000,000," Joel said, and the Senate proposal had included about $160,000,000; the board also recalled that roughly $400,000,000 was moved in the prior session.
The board described the legislature’s reallocation of roughly $240,000,000 from institution capital or building accounts as a one-time maneuver. Joel said the capital-to-operating swap was replaced with…
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