SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
Gov. Inslee says we owe kids ‘several billion dollars’
Apr 30, 2015, 8:29 AM | Updated: 9:49 am
Gov. Jay Inslee has promoted more taxes as a means of funding education. (AP)
(AP)
As Washington’s Legislature debates over how to fund the state’s education system, Governor Jay Inslee took the time to talk with KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson on Wednesday. And the two couldn’t disagree about the issue more.
“The administrations are bloated, Mr. Governor,” Monson said. “And I think the teachers’ union is the most destructive force for great education in public policy because bad teachers stay on the job.”
Listen: Full interview with Gov. Jay Inslee
The state’s supreme court has ordered the Legislature to fully fund education in Washington. How exactly to do that hasn’t been decided, and remains a contentious issue in Olympia.
To draw attention to the matter, teachers across Washington continue to walk out of classrooms. Bainbridge Island educators left their classrooms on Thursday; many headed to Olympia. Nearly 670 Marysville teachers plan to walk off the job Friday. And about 1,200 teachers in the Northshore School District are scheduled to walk out on Wednesday.
But while teachers are walking, Republicans and Democrats are each taking a stand over how to get the job done. The debate revolves around raising taxes or shuffling already collected money around. Inslee promotes the former. Monson, the latter.
“I would argue that it’s not that they don’t have the resources, it’s not that they don’t have enough of our money,” Monson said. “It’s that they’re still not spending it efficiently at the administrative level and with keeping the good teachers taken care of, and getting rid of the bad teachers at the union level.”
Monson argued that Inslee should keep with his campaign rhetoric and use lean management, which is not in line with the governor’s desire for more taxes to fund education.
“I don’t want tax hikes,” Inslee said. “I would love to snap my fingers and get smaller class sizes, more technology and computers, additional mentors, and more help for kids with problems — without tax hikes. I wish we could do that.”
“But we can,” Monson interjected.
Inslee was undeterred, noting that the state’s supreme court, in a historic move, held the state in contempt of court and is insisting the Legislature fully fund education.
“We owe the kids of our state several billion dollars,” Inslee said. “Now that’s billion with a ‘B.’ We’re not talking about chump change here.”
“Listen, this money doesn’t grow on trees,” he said.
