Regarding The Columbian editorial on Nov. 16 — “Raising the Bar; state education officials want to increase requirements for high school graduation” — I very respectfully disagree with the view that “one of the best investments our state can make is to strengthen requirements for high school graduation.”
I believe the best investment the state can make is to consistently fully fund basic education and all other programs so that every student is challenged up to his or her potential every day by teachers who are assigned a doable task (which means the teacher was able to meet the needs of every child by the end of every day).
The State Board of Education’s recent recommendation to raise the graduation requirements is a necessary step, but that strategy will succeed only if and when students entering high school are prepared to accept the challenge.
Like so many groups that have recommended ways to improve education, the board made no recommendations on how to fund the $97 million cost.
If the board has found a funding source, the legislators should use those funds for a much higher priority such as meaningful class-size reduction.
In the past two bienniums, 2007-2009, and 2009-2011, the common schools have taken some severe cuts. Additionally, the Legislature will be faced with a general fund deficit of over $5 billion for the 2011-2013 biennual budget.
There are budget items for education that are protected by Article 9, Section l of the “paramount duty” clause in our state constitution, and by the 1977 Judge Robert Doran decision that defines basic education. However, there are programs that are currently being funded by the Legislature through the 2009-2011 budget that are not protected by the constitution or the Doran decision and which are vulnerable to cuts in the next biennium. In Vancouver alone, these cuts could exceed $20 million.
I hope legislators in January will look at revenue options rather than further cuts in education. At a time when students of Washington face severe competition for jobs from students in developing countries, we must place a high priority on funding all levels of education and job training.
Tax raises in hard times
My confidence in the citizens’ willingness to recognize the importance of the success of our students was heightened last winter when I was in Arizona. Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, after making deep cuts in the Arizona budget, convinced the Republican House and Senate to place before the voters a proposal to raise the sales tax by 1 percent for three years. Approximately $1 billion would go to schools and children’s health. The fiscally conservative Arizonians approved the tax in May by more than 62 percent, and in November Brewer won the governor’s race with 55 percent of the vote.
Closer to home, here is an example of the governor and legislators’ courage to raise taxes in economic down times. In 1981-82, Republican Gov. John Spellman and the Republican House and Senate made cuts across the board in the face of a severe revenue crisis. It still wasn’t enough to balance the budget. With Republicans leading the way and the support of myself and two other Democratic senators, we re-imposed a sales tax on food: a tax that had been eliminated by voters two years earlier.
This was an act of huge political courage. Those measures took us through some very difficult times. After the economy turned upward and new revenue came in, we repealed those temporary taxes.
Our children are our greatest natural resource in this global fight for family wage jobs. We should invest in them at all costs. I have confidence in our governor and the legislators to make good and nonpolitical decisions for our children’s education.
In the words of my father, “If you don’t sufficiently pay for your children’s education, it would be like eating your seed corn.”
When I left the state Senate in 2000, I remembered those words, and I placed a bag of corn kernels on every senator’s desk with his message: “Don’t eat the seed corn”.
Al Bauer of Vancouver is a former teacher and state legislator. He served 10 years as state representative and 20 years as state senator.
