Recent Press- State budget writers bound by pasts, not vision | Government / Politics - The News Tribune May 16, 2013
- Would A Budget By Any Other Name Not Smell As Sweet? | KUOW News and Information April 15, 2013
- House passes budget much different from Senate. - Spin Control - Spokesman.com - April 12, 2013 April 13, 2013
- House Democrats target tax breaks in proposed state budget | Government / Politics - The News Tribune April 13, 2013
- Senate's no-new-taxes budget raises questions | Crosscut.com April 6, 2013
Tag Archives: BEFTF
What’s in “McCleary?”
In 2012 the Washington State Supreme Court found that Washington State is not funding our education system at anything close to the level the constitution requires. Just before the holidays the court opined again, that “the overall level of funding … Continue reading
Posted in Budget, Education
Tagged Basic Ed, BEFTF, Education, K12 Finance Task Force, McCleary Decision
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Educational Goals: penny-wise and pound-foolish decisions
The Ways and Means committee heard a number of contentious bills Saturday, including HB 2538, which is intended to save money for school districts by reducing requirements that the legislature has placed on them without funding. It was requested by … Continue reading
How Much is Enough?
A constituent asked me the following questions in email this week and I think the answers are worth pointing out. 1) Can you show me the studies that indicate there is a correlation between money spent per student and student … Continue reading
School Funding post-McCleary
I have not yet completely read the long opinion Judge Erlick issued yesterday in a court case brought by school districts, parents, and educator groups but I’m excited by the summary and the implications for a positive impact on school … Continue reading
Updates to Basic Ed Financing
The Senate released their budget yesterday. The House releases its today. I’ll opine later on the differences. Both are mostly no-new-revenue budgets. The Senate packages up closing some tax loopholes. The House comes out later this morning so I can’t … Continue reading
Differences between the House and Senate versions of Ed Finance Reform
The House and Seante passed VERY different versions of the reform legislation. Below is a staff summary of the differences in language that’s reasonably easy to understand, though still somewhat “inside baseball.” The Spokesman-Review in Spokane captures it in language … Continue reading
House Approves Ed Finance Bill
Last night the House approved the current incarnation of our ed finance reform bill – HB 2261. I’m including links to some summaries of the bill, including the AP story from the Seattle PI site (out of nostalgia). It’s depressing … Continue reading
Education Financing Update
For the entire 6 years I’ve been in the legislature I’ve worked on school funding. I’ve tried to improve the amount and the efficacy of use of the money. This year a bipartisan group of six legislators introduced a package … Continue reading
Open Letter to Teachers about HB 1410
I’ve had a lot of questions from teachers on HB 1410 that seem to indicate some misunderstanding of our intent and I believe a misreading of the bill. 1410 is a serious attempt to address school funding inadequacies and the … Continue reading