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Anderson named to K-12
Finance Study Committee
Rep. Glenn Anderson, a
vocal proponent for overhauling the state’s K-12 financing system, has
been appointed to an interim committee charged with studying school
funding. The State House Appropriations and K-12 Education committees
have formed a joint subcommittee to begin the ground work for a
legislative study of the state’s K-12 school funding and expenditure
structure.
Rep. Glenn Anderson who serves on both the Appropriations and Education
committees has been designated as one of the two lead Republicans on the
new subcommittee. The other is Rep. Gary Alexander the incoming lead
Republican on the House Appropriation Committee.
The state will spend $10.6 billion dollars on education from its general
fund this biennium, which accounts for 43 percent of the state
operating. Anderson said the most important task will be reviewing the
formula for allocating funds to local schools. The current state school
funding model is over 25 years old and based on a series of state
supreme court cases from the mid 1970s.
“This creation of this subcommittee is a small but important first step
in evaluating what state and local support is necessary to educate our
children for the next generation.” says Anderson, R-Fall City.
“Our expectations for the academic achievement of our children has
changed significantly over the last 25 years, and the structure of our
state’s economy to support that investment has changed as well. It’s
time to begin taking a thoughtful step-by-step approach to looking at
how we invest in educating our kids,” he said. “It is essential that we
build a common understanding across our state of the basic education we
expect our public schools to deliver for the next 25 years. Both to
protect taxpayers and ensure that schools get the job done.”
The subcommittee will be composed of both Republicans and Democrats. It
will meet four times in Olympia between now and July. Its first agenda
item will be to review the benefits and disadvantages of the current
funding system.
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For more information, contact:
Bobbi Cussins, Public
Information Officer - (360) 786-7252
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