Town hall on Tuesday, March 27 & Coffee with Kristine!
My favorite part of this job is getting to talk to my neighbors about what matters most to you and your families. It’s why I am excited we will be hosting a spring town hall next week.
Remember to mark your calendars and join your 30th district state representatives for a town hall meeting! My seatmate, Rep. Mike Pellicciotti, and I are hosting a town hall meeting at Todd Beamer High School! We’ll be taking your questions from 6:00 – 8:00 pm on Tuesday, March 27th. I hope to see you there!
Who: Rep. Mike Pellicciotti & Rep. Kristine Reeves
When: Tuesday, March 27th from 6:00pm – 8:00pm
Where: Todd Beamer High School, 35999 16th Ave S, Federal Way, WA 98003
I will also be bringing back my every-other-Friday “Coffee with Kristine”! Starting Friday, April 6 & running through Friday, November 16, 2018, we will be at Poverty Bay Coffee in Federal Way from 7:00 AM – 9:00 AM to talk with our neighbors about what matters most to you and your families! I look forward to good coffee, good conversation, and great connections!
Cutting property taxes
I’ve heard from many of our neighbors that property taxes are too high, which is why I voted AGAINST raising your property taxes last year.
Thankfully, with the extraordinary revenue growth in the past year, my colleagues and I had the opportunity to LOWER property taxes. The extra revenue that came in is temporary and we had this chance to use it as a one-time opportunity to lower your property tax bills in 2019, so that’s what we did. I’m proud to support lower property taxes because I know that middle class and working families, families on fixed-incomes, and others in the South Sound are struggling as they watch their budgets break over increased costs.
I’ll continue to work on ways to lower your taxes while maintaining strong funding for our schools and essential state services.
State budget finally fully funds education
Coming to Olympia, my primary goal has been to ensure the state is meeting the constitutional and moral obligation to fund our schools and keep the legislature’s promise to our kids & parents. In the two years I’ve been here, we made huge progress and in this short 60-day session, the last piece of the puzzle has been put into place by passing the supplemental operating budget. Our budget increases teacher salaries by September 2018, a crucial point the state Supreme Court outlined as the final part of the McCleary obligation. I’m proud to have pushed hard to ensure that we got the job done on time and that it was included in our final budget.
There’s additional investments in education, including increased funding for special education and science standards.
The investments we make in our children today pay off in the long-term, not just personally, but for our society as a whole. As a working mom with two kids entering our school system this year, I am proud of the education investments we’ve made and look forward to continuing to make our kids a top priority.
Prioritizing our kids
Many of you know my backstory: I was in and out of the foster care system at a young age, had a family life that wasn’t always stable or secure, and often struggled through childhood. I survived and even thrived because of the investment this state made in me through the foster care system, assistance programs to help needy families, and a culture that cares what happens to kids as they grow up.
Many of you know my backstory: I was in and out of the foster care system at a young age, had a family life that wasn’t always stable or secure, and often struggled through childhood. I survived and even thrived because of the investment this state made in me through the foster care system, assistance programs to help needy families, and a culture that cares what happens to kids as they grow up.
During the Great Recession, the state budget was cut dramatically and our mental health care, foster care, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs suffered. Bringing those programs back from the recession-level cuts has been a major priority in the state and I’m proud to announce we made that a reality this year.
While there’s still more to do, in our budget the behavioral health system is receiving $306 million to invest in local communities, there are more beds and placements for struggling foster children, and funding is increased to continue the fight against the opioid crisis.
TANF is also fully restored, with an additional 3% increase from the pre-recession levels, and more funding is allocated for our new Department of Children, Youth, and Families.
Finally, early childhood education received an increase as well, expanding access to childcare for homeless families working to get out of poverty.
It’s hard to be a struggling mom or dad, but it’s even harder on the kids. The state is prioritizing children and helping ensure they get the help they need to be successful. Just like I did when I was a child.
Contact me
Thank you for reading my e-newsletter. I hope to hear from you at our town hall but if you’re unable to make it, please reach out to my office with any thoughts or ideas you might have for our district.
