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Fall City legislator
introduces bills
mandating lawmakers fund education first
Funding education first
should be a requirement in Washington state, says
Rep. Glenn Anderson,
R-Fall City, who today announced that he prefiled two bills for the 2007
legislative session to meet the state’s paramount duty: educating our
children. The measures, House Bill 1019 and House Joint Resolution 4200,
together will constitutionally require lawmakers to fund the state’s
education budget before any other state program is funded.
“I think we need to instill some voter trust that legislators, including
the governor, can and will prioritize education funding,” said Anderson.
“The only way to make sure we address the funding needs of our schools
and our children is to make sure that education gets the first crack at
the first dollar during budget years.”
Anderson says the governor’s Washington Learns Task Force, specifically
authorized for the sole purpose of solving the state’s system for
funding K-12 education, sorely missed the mark in its final report,
unveiled Nov. 13, 2006.
He says his bills will do what Washington Learns and the governor would
not: HB 1019 will require the Legislature to pass and the governor to
sign a K-12 education funding budget before any other program is
considered for funding; HJR 4200, if passed, will call for a public vote
to amend the state constitution to include language requiring that K-12
education is funded first in the state budget process.
“I hear the rhetoric every year. Now it’s time to put our money where
are mouths are and meet the needs of our children and the expectations
of their parents,” said Anderson “The piece-meal budget process and
phantom accounts the governor and legislative leaders are now using is
eroding public trust in government. If those in charge mean business,
then they’ll sit with a bipartisan group to do the business of the
people and give our children the education promised to them every budget
cycle.”
The 105-day 2007 legislative session begins Jan. 8.
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