There’s a bipartisan agreement on the state’s capital budget, but the Republican-controlled Senate refuses to pass it. Check out my op-ed in The News Tribune to get the full story.
Originally published as an op-ed in The News Tribune on Saturday, October 7.
The start of the school year is always such a busy and fun time for my family. Anticipation and excitement abound. Unfortunately for me as a first-term legislator, the excitement is dampened because for the first time in history, there’s no state construction budget.
That means we are not living up to our promise to ensure the best possible education for all kids in Washington.
Schools districts in every corner of the state are struggling without the state funding they need to fix leaky roofs and build new classrooms for 1.1 million students from the South Sound to Spokane. As the News Tribune has reported in an excellent series of stories by Walker Orenstein and Lisa Pemberton, real damage is happening because of the lack of a capital budget.