LEGISLATIVE UPDATE as of 2/28/2010
As predicted last week, the big news this week was the release of budget proposals from both the House and Senate. Both proposals include cuts to the K-12 budget for the next fiscal year—$112 million in the House and $214 million in the Senate—in addition to the more than $1 billion that was cut from K-12 education in the two-year biennial budget adopted last spring. Of course both proposals include significant cuts to non-education programs as well, with K-12 taking a little more than 11 percent of the cuts in the House proposal and about 20% in that of the Senate. If adopted, the Senate proposal may ultimately result in higher reductions to the K-12 budget because it ties levy equalization and funding for all day kindergarten to a three tenths of one cent increase in the general sales tax. If the sales tax increase were to be defeated via an initiative later this fall—which many expect would be the case—the funding for those areas would be lost in addition. While the House proposal seems more favorable to K-12, as this is being written the House has yet to identify how it would raise sufficient revenue to pay for its proposal. With respect to other legislation, this week the House Education Committee added the provisions of HB 2776 into SB 6696, and passed it along for consideration by the full house. Both of these bills include provisions that follow-up on HB 2261 from last year, and SB 6696 also includes provisions necessary for Washington to qualify for the Race to the Top grants from the federal government. You can read more about this in the latest edition of the Grassroots Connection.
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2010 Focus Day . . . Success!
1,000 WA State PTA members and children meet in Olympia!
PTA members and their kids showed up in Olympia on Martin Luther King Day, January 18, 2010, and held a “Rally on the Steps” showing the Legislators in Olympia that we are strong and committed to our state Funding Basic Education. There were many activities for children this year, including face painting and sign-making stations inside the Columbia Room in the Capitol building. This was followed by everyone joining in a march around the grounds - which ended on the capitol steps. There were words of encouragement from State Representative Ross Hunter (48th District) and State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Randy Dorn. Parents and their children spoke up and related how the budget cuts have affected their school districts and what they have gone without over the years. Governor Christine Gregoire took the opportunity to unveil a pair of education proposals that she says will give all children access to a quality education regardless of income level, raise instruction standards and provide a focused approach to ensuring high student achievement. Afterwords, everyone had lunch on the grounds and had the option to go on tours of the capitol. It was the most successful and well-attended Focus Day to date - mostly due to the fact that our kids had a day off from school and were invited to attend with their parents! If a trip to our State Capitol sounds like fun to you - there will be another opportunity to show your support on President’s Day, February 15, 2010, when Washington State PTA members will again ‘Rally on the Steps’ in support of basic Education. If you would like more information on attending this sure to be fun event, go to www.wastatepta.org.
- - Dawn Peschek, Maple Hills Legislative Chair
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