Read a Pacific Northwest, liberal perspective on world, national, and local politics. From majestic Redmond, Washington - the Northwest Progressive Institute Advocate.

Friday, February 27, 2009

PTA tells legislature, "Kids can't wait!"

"It's basic. Our children can't wait. Yes we can!"

Those were the chants of approximately four hundred PTA members, parents, grandparents and students from the steps of the Capitol building in Olympia on Thursday. Senator Rosemary McAuliffe (D-1st District) called the gathering the largest rally that she had ever seen at the Capitol, and with sixteen years in the Senate, that's saying something.

I counted at least fifteen legislators and government officials shivering in the 35 degree winter shade, waiting to speak to the crowd or just lending visual support to the main issue of the group, education finance and reform.


Like many other public interest groups, the Washington State PTA converges on the Capitol Campus on one day during every legislative session to lobby lawmakers, but not every year includes a rally like this one. This year called for extra effort because of possibility of a serious overhaul of the state's public education system for the first time in over thirty years.


Shockingly, the formulas that determine how much the state sends to school districts were created three decades ago.

According to Funding Washington Schools:
The old 1978 basic ed. formulas don’t consider the cost of what we now consider to be essentials: computers and other forms of technology, security, telephone lines, foreign language, Advanced Placement, remediation for the growing population of disadvantaged children, and the WASL. Additionally, just the cost of educational resources have increased significantly since 1978.
Many Washington schools can't afford librarians and buses (the basics) let alone new technology and foreign language classes.

The state just hasn't kept up with changes in education and it's now paying the price in low test scores and high drop out rates.

Senate education leaders, McAuliffe and Eric Oemig (D-45th District) expect some form of education reform to survive the session. That's good news to PTA members, but they still hope that their legislators are listening to their stories about overcrowded classrooms and canceled school lunch programs and bus transportation, and will make real improvements that they can actually seein the classrooms and not just hollow promises.

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