News / Northwest

Education money: Battle for billions begins in Legislature

By CHRIS GRYGIEL, Associated Press

Published: January 5, 2017, 2:42pm

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Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center, left, speaks as Sen. Christine Rolfes, D-Bainbridge Island, listens at right during the annual AP Legislative Preview on Thursday at the Capitol in Olympia. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) Photo Gallery

OLYMPIA — The battle over finding billions of additional dollars to pay for K-12 education in Washington pits Democrats who say new taxes are needed against Republicans saying schools must take priority over other government programs before asking for more revenue.

The challenges facing lawmakers were on stark display Thursday, with Democrats sharply criticizing the GOP at a legislative forum for not coming up with a detailed education funding plan and Republicans countering they need more information to bring their caucus members to come up with a viable proposal.

Lawmakers, who convene their 2017 session Monday, this year must find billions in new funding for education in order comply with a state Supreme Court ruling. The Legislature has already put more than $2 billion toward the issue since the 2012 ruling, but the biggest piece remaining is figuring out how much the state must provide for teacher salaries.

Speaking at the annual Associated Press Legislative Preview, Sen. Majority Leader Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, said although the Supreme Court forced lawmakers’ hands the debate over education funding has lasted decades.

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The most pressing problem facing state lawmakers this legislative session is a familiar one: how to fully fund the state’s public-school system.

On Thursday, during the Associated Press Legislative Preview in Olympia, it was clear lawmakers remain far from finding a solution. Democrats have unveiled a detailed proposal, which includes funneling more than $7 billion over the next four years into the state’s K-12 schools. Republicans have pushed back and said no new taxes are needed, but they have not yet revealed their own proposal.

Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center, who will be a key player tackling the education issues this session, said on Thursday that she’s confident legislators will find a solution this legislative session.

Rivers said that the “man hours have been countless” when it comes to solving the problem. While constituents will be tucked into their bed sleeping, Rivers said, lawmakers will be up trying to solve the problem.

“We have no doubt we’ll get it done this year,” Rivers said.

She also suggested that marijuana revenue should be funneled toward education. Rivers said the marijuana industry is growing and that it would be appropriate to spend that revenue on schools.

“Take the money, set it aside and say it’s only for education,” she said.

Some of the marijuana revenue is already directed toward other programs.

Later, when Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee was asked about Rivers’ idea, he said he’s not opposed to any revenue source that could help schools. But, he added, it doesn’t come even close to solving the problem. It’s not the salvation, he said.

“It cannot be considered a panacea,” Inslee said, adding that it falls billions of dollars short.

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“We’ve been going at this about 30 years, if it was really simple, we probably would’ve gotten this completed sometime back,” he said.

But Democrats accused Republicans of not doing their homework by failing to offer a specific education funding proposal before the Legislature begins next week.

“As of yesterday the Democrats have a very detailed proposal,” said Sen. Christine Rolfes, D-Bainbridge Island. “We are still waiting for our Republican counterparts…Only half the group did the job we were tasked with.”

Last month Gov. Jay Inslee proposed spending $2.7 billion over the next two years to satisfy the court decision. Inslee would raise money for education by increasing business taxes on attorneys, real estate agents and others, instituting a carbon tax and levying a 7.9 percent capital gains tax on the sales of stocks and bonds above a certain threshold. The state’s business community and Republicans have criticized Inslee’s ideas, saying they’ll hurt the economy.

On Wednesday Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature presented their ideas.

The Democratic proposal estimates the state will need to spend more than $7 billion over the next four years on schools. While the Democrats’ plan doesn’t specify funding sources, it noted potential sources of revenue like closure of tax exemptions and a new capital gains tax.

Republicans released “Guiding Principles” that didn’t include a projection on costs, but a statement that education should be funded first, “before other priorities of government.”

Rolfes said because Republicans didn’t come up with more specifics, as expected, the Legislature is hamstrung.

“It is now impossible for us, by Monday, to have the bill,” she said.

House Minority Leader Dan Kristiansen, R-Snohomish, said the GOP needs more information so they can come up with a proposal that has the full backing of its caucus – something crucial to ultimately getting a plan passed out of the Legislature.

“Right now we don’t have all those ducks in a row,” he said.

And Schoesler said Democrats were too quick to go to tax increases to pay for education and said Inslee’s budget used that issue as “a shield” to seek too much money for government.

“I don’t think the biggest tax increase in history is needed” to provide Washington’s children with a good education, Schoesler said.

Inslee, who described his spending plan as a “get the job done budget,” said he sympathized with caucus leaders who have to find consensus among many lawmakers.

“I only have to convince one person” before proposing a budget, he joked.

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