WA Cutting $800 Million From Public-School Funding

I really hope this does not pass... it's common sense that larger class size means less individual attention and less learning. Too many students pass through to grade 5 unable to read, meanwhile teachers can't pay their rent... all in our age of the No Child Left A Dime Act. Do these legislators really think we can improve society by robbing our children of quality education?

If you feel strongly one way or another, contact Washington State elected officials:
http://www.secstate.wa.gov/elections/elected_officials.aspx

From the article>>
Students will pay more to attend college, public-school teachers face the prospect of larger classes and the poor will have a harder time getting health care under nearly $4 billion in proposed budget cuts outlined by state lawmakers on Thursday.

The full budget has not been released, but the Legislature released a two-page sheet listing some of the cuts in a compromise budget backed by Democratic leaders in the House and Senate.

Lawmakers propose cutting nearly $800 million from public-school funding, with the bulk of the cut — $600 million — coming from the class-size reduction initiative, I-728. Another $255 million in savings is expected to come from reducing enrollment by 40,000 people in the state Basic Health Plan, which provides subsidized insurance for low-income workers. The reductions would be achieved through attrition.

The Legislature is proposing to help offset cuts to colleges and universities by allowing tuition increases of up to 14 percent a year for two years at four-year institutions and 7 percent a year for two years at two-year colleges. The net cut to higher education after the tuition increases would be around $325 million.

No state parks would be closed, as had been anticipated earlier, thanks to a new "opt-out" fee on vehicle-license renewals. The $5 fee would be tacked on to annual vehicle-license registrations, but people who didn't want it pay it could check a box opting out.

Lawmakers said they were confident they had the votes to pass the budget. "I'm feeling very sure we have 50 votes to pass this budget" in the House, said Rep. Kelli Linville, D-Bellingham, chairwoman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, said she had the votes in the Senate as well.

The budget is expected to be voted on in the House first and then in the Senate. Lawmakers appear optimistic they'll finish by Sunday, the last scheduled day of the session.

Leaders in both the House and Senate on Thursday said they had no plans to send voters a proposal to increase the sales tax to buy back cuts in services. An income tax proposal touted in the Senate earlier also is dead.

This budget has been the most challenging in decades. The shortfall between now and 2011 is about $9 billion. Lawmakers are able to bridge more than half that with about $3 billion in federal stimulus money and other federal bailouts, cash set aside in the state's rainy-day fund and through budget cuts already adopted.

Counting the federal money, majority Democrats in the House and Senate are proposing a budget of roughly $35 billion for the 2009-2011 fiscal years. That amount includes $830 million in reserves, which the state can tap if the economy continues to deteriorate.

Senate Republican Leader Mike Hewitt said Democrats are relying too much on one-time funding, the federal bailout money, for example, to balance the budget. That could leave the state with another budget gap in two years, he said.

"What they've done is not permanent," Hewitt said. "We're definitely afraid we'll be back here in two years."

Sen. Rodney Tom, D-Medina, vice chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said Democrats made a lot of tough cuts in the budget, but "we went about it in a very judicious way."

Gov. Chris Gregoire said budget was something she could live with. "I can't see some big overriding issue that would lead me to veto the budget," she said.

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