Reminder: Let Your State Legislators Know that K-12 Ed Matters
I am again reminding you to please, during this Legislative session, let your state representatives and senators know you care about K-12 education. Doesn't have to be in support of any particular bill but "I'm a parent, a taxpayer and this matter to me. Oh, and I vote."
K-12 education is the state's paramount duty and should be always in the minds of our legislators.
Here is the link to the Washington State Legislature. If you know your legislator, find them in the House and write to him or her. The e-mail will automatically ask you if you want the e-mail sent to your other legislator and senator so you only have to do it once.
Don't know who yours is? Here's the link to Find Your Legislator.
It takes 5 minutes and they need to hear from parents that you care about public education.
K-12 education is the state's paramount duty and should be always in the minds of our legislators.
Here is the link to the Washington State Legislature. If you know your legislator, find them in the House and write to him or her. The e-mail will automatically ask you if you want the e-mail sent to your other legislator and senator so you only have to do it once.
Don't know who yours is? Here's the link to Find Your Legislator.
It takes 5 minutes and they need to hear from parents that you care about public education.
Comments
We need to advocate for funding of ALL education in this state, and tell our legislators it's time to stand up.
Ticked off
signed,
Advocate!
Agree-
While the state must fund K-12 education, higher education is more at risk.
Rep. Larry Haler, a Richland Republican, said the state should no longer view higher education as a discretionary budget item, especially given the importance of a college degree in today’s job market.
“The constitutional mandate was written at a time when high school was the college of that time,” Haler said. “We simply can’t consider sending a young man or young woman through K-12 and then saying, ‘good luck.’”
Read more @ theolympian.com/-2011/03/21/
Sen. Rodney Tom, chairman of the Senate Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee and a Medina Democrat, agreed that state funding needs to return to higher education. He said the state is caught in a dilemma where the urgent needs of social service programs get more attention than higher education, but failing to fund higher education will lead to a greater demand for social services in the future.
States around the country have been cutting funding to higher education programs. According to a report from the State Higher Education Executive Officers, per-student funding at colleges and universities in the U.S. fell to $6,454 in 2010, a 25-year low in inflation-adjusted dollars.
About half as much as what districts receive for K-12
That might not bother those who are able afford private universities for their children but most students stay instate if they continue past high school.
I also think it bears repeating that NONE of the Seattle community colleges, the place where many SSD graduates will prepare for a 4-yr degree or receive vocational training, participate in the federal Stafford loan program.
To take 15 credits- about three classes a qtr, it will run well over $1,100.
With the state facing even more budget cuts than they expected, that could be even higher in the fall.