Friends and neighbors,
At this point, you have probably heard me speak many times about my commitment to fully fund our schools, treat students with disabilities with the respect and care they deserve, and employ the most up-to-date and scientifically backed teaching techniques. I truly believe that thriving schools help create a generation of thriving kids.
Unfortunately, 40% of our 4th graders are not reading at grade level. By 4th grade, students are expected to have moved from learning to read to reading to learn. Even learning math is dependent on a child having learned to read.
But many of our school districts are not using the most up-to-date methods for teaching our children to read. These methods have been widely confirmed through neurological science and evidence in the past 25 years.
Working with educators and experts on how children learn to read, I developed and introduced House Bill 1295 to move our school districts to use science-based literacy learning techniques as part of their curriculum. It also begins to ensure our teachers are trained with the best science-based techniques to teach reading.
Some school districts in Washington have made investments to train and support educators in teaching with these strategies and have impressive results to show. I believe, however, that access to good literacy instruction shouldn’t be decided by your zip code. All students should have access.
As a student testified on HB 1295:
“What do you think would have happened if I didn’t have access to structured literacy? I know, I would still be behind in class, I would still be coming home from school crying, and I would still hate reading; everyone has the right to read.”
And as her mother testified:
“Learning to read shouldn’t depend on a family’s income or zip code.”
Nearly all of my colleagues in the House agree with me. House Bill 1295 passed out of the Education Committee unanimously and received 96 of 97 votes on the House floor. It was heard in the Senate Early Learning and K-12 committee on February 24th and was passed out of that committee on February 25th. I look forward to getting this bill to the Governor’s desk and improving our children’s education and ability to read!
Progressive revenue to fund our schools and support working families
We live in difficult times. Federal cuts have hurt working families – while giving massive tax cuts to corporations and the wealthiest Americans. Uncertainty around federal support for education is making it harder and harder to fund our state’s investments. The paramount duty of our state government is to fund schools, but we can’t do this on the backs of the very working people that federal cuts have harmed.
That is why I support the Millionaire’s Tax.
I have fought for years to make our tax system fairer.
I believe a working mother with two children earning $40 or $50,000 a year, who now pays 18% of her income in taxes while the wealthiest Washingtonians pay 3%, should be paying much less in taxes. The person earning a million dollars should pay a fair share.
There seems to be a lot of misinformation on what we are actually proposing. So, let’s set things straight.
Senate Bill 6346 (and House Bill 2724) proposes a 9.9% tax on annual gross income above $1 million. The tax applies only to their income OVER a million dollars. The Department of Revenue estimates that only 0.5% of Washingtonians will pay the tax – right around 30,000 people – and could mean $3.7 billion in revenue annually.
And people who earn a lot of money when they visit or stay in Washington should pay, just as our residents pay on what they earn when in almost all the other states as part of those states’ income taxes.
It is hard to tell what the bill will look like by the time it gets to the floor, but here are some things I would like the bill to fund.
- Expanding the Working Families Tax Credit to everyone over 18 years of age and expanding eligibility for many very low-income families. This will provide real tax relief to hundreds of thousands of families in Washington.
- Doubling the Small Business Tax Credit so small businesses grossing less than $250,000 a year won’t owe B&O taxes – roughly 150,000 small businesses.
Education is our “Paramount Duty.” It’s important that the millionaire’s income tax fund education. That’s our duty. The wealthiest Washingtonians should be paying their fair share for our children’s education and the arc of opportunity that access to community and technical colleges and universities can offer.
We only have a couple of weeks left, and we have a lot of work still to do. But I feel optimistic that in the long term, this session will be a huge success for working families, our children’s future, and Washington schools.
Please reach out with any questions, ideas, or concerns you may have. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Rep. Gerry Pollet