Dueling Statements But Do They Mean It?

Here's what Kastama, Tom and Sheldon (allegedly Dems but who walked to the other side of the aisle last Friday) say in their op-ed in the Times:

While adhering to important tenets of responsible budgeting, it is now the job of the Legislature to negotiate the most sensible use of the limited tax dollars we have.

Here's what Joe Zarelli, the Senate Republicans' chair of the Ways and Means committee said to Danny Westneat at the Times:

But Joe Zarelli, the Senate Republicans' budget chief, said all the education-spending ideas, including those from his own party, simply must wait for better times.

"I'll take the bullets for it, but I try to operate in reality," he said. "I don't know how you manage a $1.2 billion deficit problem without everyone taking some kind of cut."

Comments

dan dempsey said…
While adhering to important tenets of responsible budgeting, it is now the job of the Legislature to negotiate the most sensible use of the limited tax dollars we have.

I thought the job of the legislature was to fulfill the requirements of the State Constitution and guarantee constitutional rights to all citizens. ... Guess NOT in WA State, where a citizen's rights must wait for better times.
Disgusted said…
Dan,

We've gone from watching the district ignore the law to watching legislature violate the law.

I'd love to see these people jailed.
dan dempsey said…
What I think needs to be done is to file recall actions for a few of these folks.

Failure to support the WA Constitution is a violation of the oath of office. The fact that the WA Supreme court is telling residents that it is OK for the state to keep violating the State Constitution until 2018, does not change the fact that the 1,000,000 residents of the state who are k-12 students are having their constitutional rights violated. .... with this crew in charge the civil rights act of 1964 would have become the civil rights act of 1970.

My point is that many legislators are violating their oath of office and that is grounds for a recall.

According to the Constitution article IX ....
It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders, without distinction or preference on account of race, color, caste, or sex.
and
The legislature shall provide for a general and uniform system of public schools.

Given the premise that each child deserves the opportunity to maximize their talents, an adequate education would allow at least some students to receive an education that is internationally competitive. ... THAT IS NOT HAPPENING. Good luck in the "flattening world".

The Countries known as EOCD partners average a 195 day school year and have a longer school day. The legislature passed legislation adopting the Common Core State Standards with do not meet the benchmarks of standards used in the top performing countries in Mathematics.

School Districts are now mandated to spend at least an estimated $165 million over the next 5-years to transition into "substandard standards".

In a recent WWC report it was shown that the coaching of teachers produced no positive effect. The CCSS professional development will make Ed Elites happy but will largely be pointless.

Last year End of Course Testing in Geometry and Algebra I began .... this type of testing accountability will end with CCSS as currently planned.

Not only does the legislature violate the constitutional rights of the students ... most legislators fail to actually examine data in proposing legislation that effects education .... Randy Dorn is hardly any better at using data.

The District I live in is the 22nd in Olympia, I've met with all three legislators and they are not the source of this problem ... (other than previous mindless support for CCSS).

So does anyone have a legislator they wish to recall? There is no cost for a recall action as it is a right guaranteed under the constitution (that the WA supreme court has not deferred to the future). See article I sections 33 and 34.
mirmac1 said…
So Much for Transparency and Prioritizing Education


By Seattle State Sens. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, David Frockt, Adam Kline and Sharon Nelson

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