2.22.17
Suggested lead: In Olympia Wednesday afternoon,
lawmakers took a big step toward fully funding K-12 schools. Dan Frizzell has
that story.
Wrap (:84 total): House
Democrats released their sweeping education-reform bill last week, and after
several days of public input took it to the House floor Wednesday.
To no one’s great surprise, the chamber OK’d it on a party-line vote
after a couple of hours’ debate.
Republicans fought hard for an amendment that could have hit Washingtonians with
$11 billion dollars in new taxes.
That Republican tax increase failed, along with several other floor amendments.
The bill that finally emerged calls for smaller classes, more counselors,
beefed up career and technical instruction, pay raises for teachers, and a
number of other reforms that supporters said were badly needed and long overdue.
House Majority Leader Pat Sullivan of Covington was a lead author of the
bill, along with Representative Kristine Lytton of Anacortes. Here’s Sullivan:
SULLIVAN: "People reference this, they call this the McCleary bill, they say
that this is the fix to get us out of contempt of court.
But what this bill is really about is, it’s about our students.
This is about our next generation, preparing them as doctors, scientists,
engineers, our future leaders. And this bill makes significant investments to
close the opportunity gap so all students have access to programs that will
benefit them and benefit our state. " [:25]
With Wednesday’s vote, the hard work of hammering out a compromise can begin
in earnest, with two months and a day remaining in before the Legislature
adjourns for the year on April 23. In Olympia, I'm Dan Frizzell.