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Education funding and the state of the state
By Rep. Bill
Hinkle
Providing kids with an
education is state government’s paramount duty. That’s why the
Legislature spends nearly 60 percent of the state’s budget on K-12 and
college education funding. As a legislator and a parent, I want our
children to have good teachers and strong schools. But I also understand
we must balance those desires with the realities of our current state
economy, as well as protect taxpayers by demanding full accountability
for the dollars we do spend.
I addressed these issues at the recent Ellensburg Chamber of Commerce
Legislative Day forum, and would like to expand upon them here. As we
all agreed, every parent would like to walk into their child’s classroom
and find a small group of kids and a well-paid teacher. That’s why
Washington voters passed initiatives in recent years to raise teachers’
salaries and reduce class size. But here’s the tough thing about
initiatives: They offer a mandate, but often neglect to identify a
funding source.
Sometimes that isn’t a problem, because the state is running in the
black and has the money on hand. But at the same time the teacher-salary
and class-size initiatives passed, our state was looking down the barrel
of a shrinking state economy and a $2 billion-plus budget hole. Funding
the initiatives would have meant pulling money – huge amounts of money –
from somewhere else.
Does anyone believe the people of Washington would have applauded the
Legislature for decimating programs that provide health care for kids
and seniors? Would they have wanted us to stop helping the nearly 1,200
patients in our mental health hospitals? Should we have cut into other
critical services or even raised taxes, thereby hurting our chances at
economic recovery? The Legislature didn’t think so.
Instead, Democrats and Republicans alike made the tough and responsible
choice to live within our means and suspend implementation of these
initiatives. Some have said we did it because we felt we were already
spending enough money on education. On the contrary, we did it
recognizing that these were important issues that would have to wait
until our economy caught up to pay for them.
So when will we be able to fund higher teacher salaries and classroom
reduction initiatives? Two things are needed: a better state economy and
an accounting for the money we are already spending.
I wish we could say we’re over the budget hurdle, but I can’t. We will
enter the 2005 legislative session Jan. 10 facing a state budget
shortfall estimated at $1.5 billion. So for at least the foreseeable
future we’ll be fighting an uphill battle.
Still, many teachers will see their pay go up this year. Despite what
you may hear, the Legislature has indeed provided raises for our
educators in recent years. In 2003, we provided almost $30 million in
funding so entry-level teachers – those with one to seven years’
experience – will make no less than $30,000 a year. In addition, more
than half of our teachers will get paid more this year as they “move up
the pay scale” for additional experience and training. In fact, many
would argue that teachers make a reasonable wage – for example, the
average teacher in our area makes almost $48,000 a year before benefits.
In addition to needing a better budget outlook, we must let taxpayers
know their education dollars are being spent wisely. Once education
money leaves the state’s coffers, it’s out of our hands and the
districts divvy it up. People want to know the money is being spent not
only for teachers’ salaries, but that it’s also getting into the
classroom in the form of books, curriculum materials and other supplies.
An examination of our spending practices would no doubt help us stretch
the dollars the state already invests in education.
Voters recognize this. On Nov. 3, they defeated Initiative 884, which
would have raised the sales tax by a penny on the dollar, with the money
intended for public education. Did that mean the public doesn’t care
about education in Washington? No. I believe they do care, but are still
worried about our state’s economy and realize that spending more money
on something isn’t always the answer. Washingtonians are smart – they
understand that when times are tough we must strike a delicate balance
with our most pressing priorities.
In the meantime, I hope we can continue having reasonable, realistic
discussions about what’s possible given Washington’s budget situation. I
support the teachers in the 13th Legislative District, but I am also
being asked to balance their needs with others, including state
employees who want raises, the thousands of developmentally disabled
patients on assistance waiting lists, and other critical state services.
If we can all come together in a collective effort to make every dollar
count, we’ll weather this tough time and grow our economy so there’s a
bigger piece of a bigger pie for everyone.
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For more information, contact:
John Handy, Assistant
Communications Director - (360) 786-5758
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