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House Republicans not interested in costly
special session
to cut education, raise taxes
At the heart of debate is measure that pits
affluent school districts
against property poor school districts
Republican leaders in the state House of Representatives say they do not
support bringing lawmakers back to Olympia for a special legislative
session, as proposed by the governor today. The cost of a special
session is estimated at $20,000 a day, and
House Republican Leader Richard DeBolt
said the work left undone does not warrant the hit to taxpayers in these
tough economic times.
Among the
handful of bills majority Democrats and the governor still want to pass
is a measure that would cut levy equalization funding to a vast majority
of school districts and allow property-rich districts, such as Bellevue,
to raise local property taxes.
“We’re not interested in coming back
to cut funding for schools and put an additional burden on local
taxpayers,” said DeBolt, R-Chehalis.
"The
fact that we are talking about this is indicative of this Legislature’s
work this year. The majority party showed a stunning lack of priorities.
They spent three months of a three-and-a-half month session doing very
little. And now they’re telling taxpayers they need to come back at a
cost of twenty thousand dollars a day for a special session because they
ran out of time. Republicans aren’t convinced we need to come back. It’s
not necessary and it’s not in the best interests of our schools and our
taxpayers," said DeBolt.
House Republicans mounted a strong
opposition to the school funding cuts in the closing hours of regular
session, which ended at midnight Sunday.
House
Bill 1776 would
cut funding for more than 220 school districts throughout
Washington, from large districts like Spokane, Federal Way and
Vancouver, to small rural districts such as Adna and Washtucna.
The ranking
Republican on the House Education Committee,
Rep. Skip Priest,
R-Federal Way, noted that coming back to pile additional cuts on the
majority of schools while allowing property-rich districts to get more
out of local taxpayers runs counter to the state’s obligation to fund
education.
"This
is Robin Hood’s nemesis. The debate is not just about poor and rural
school districts. There are districts around the state, from Federal Way
to Prosser and Brewster to Spokane, that have large populations, but
don't have the Bellevue Square or South Center Mall to pay the property
tax tab for school levies," said Priest. "Our duty as
lawmakers is to provide ample and uniform funding so every student has
an opportunity to be successful. It should be our first priority.
Instead, the last bill on the table this session was a measure to cut
levy equalization, which will pit property-rich locations against
property-poor areas of the state. Instead of talking about what we can
do to help our schools, we’re talking about balancing the state budget
on the backs of our teachers and children.
"The
governor can choose to bring us back into a costly special session, but
our position on this is not going to change. Republicans will continue
to demand that the state fund the fundamentals of education, take care
of our most vulnerable and maintain a balanced state budget without tax
increases," Priest said.
GOP lawmakers said they were equally disappointed that the 105-day
legislative session failed to address the economic uncertainty
Washington families are facing. They say they will push to make jobs and
economic recovery the focus of the next regular legislative session
scheduled for January 2010.
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For more information, contact:
Bobbi Cussins, Public Information Officer: (360) 786-7252
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