Governor Releases Her Preliminary Budget
Governor Gregoire released her preliminary budget today and sure enough, there are cuts to I-728. From the article in the Times,
"Among the cuts proposed by Gregoire: $682 million in pay increases for state workers and teachers; $500 million in health care for children, the poor and the disabled; and $178 million in funding for Initiative I-728, which was approved by voters in 2000 to reduce class sizes in public schools."
According to Mr. Kennedy at last night's Board meeting, SPS gets about $21M from I-728. I don't know from this cut if we would still lose that much.
Also included was levy equalization cuts which I do not believe affects our levies because of the size of our district.
From the article:
"Among the cuts proposed by Gregoire: $682 million in pay increases for state workers and teachers; $500 million in health care for children, the poor and the disabled; and $178 million in funding for Initiative I-728, which was approved by voters in 2000 to reduce class sizes in public schools."
According to Mr. Kennedy at last night's Board meeting, SPS gets about $21M from I-728. I don't know from this cut if we would still lose that much.
Also included was levy equalization cuts which I do not believe affects our levies because of the size of our district.
From the article:
"Which raises a question: What's being cut if state spending is essentially flat?
The answer: Mostly proposed increases in state spending.
Simply put, it generally costs more money each year to provide the same level of state services.
For example, when more children enroll in public schools, the state must pay for their basic education as required in the state Constitution. Washington currently is seeing a spike in enrollment, in part, some officials think, because many financially strapped parents are pulling their kids out of private school."
Hmm, if Washington state is seeing a spike in overall enrollment in public schools, maybe the economy is driving more people there. Or it may be in more rural areas and not urban Seattle.
Comments
Personally, I haven't subscribed to a paper for years, because I can't afford it, not because I don't want to read anything that might publish an opinion I disagree with, but I suggest that you contact the writer of the opinion piece and let them know how you feel. At the very least, I bet they will reply, and you may even be able to share your thoughts to a wider audience.
Im wondering if the state will put up budget suggestion sites as SPS did, when it asked voters to prioritize spending.
We all know there have to be cuts somewhere- but where?
bigger class sizes? put capital projects on hold, eliminate recent raises for administration & decrease administrative positions as recommended?
increase fees from student , like science labs and sports?
If instead of half days for conferences and teacher training, if we eliminated student attendance during those days- couldn't we save thousands on transportation? Not a lot of classroom work is done anyway, on days that are just a few hours long.