WEA statement on education funding in new state House budget proposal
Washington Education Association President Kim Mead provided the following testimony at this afternoon's hearing on the House budget plan released today. WEA is the state's largest union representing K-12 and higher education employees.
The Democratic House budget proposal invests in several top priorities identified by WEA members.
Thank you for restoring local school district levy flexibility by returning to a percentage-based formula, which allows voters to address specific student needs.
Thank you for funding the new health care system for K-12 educators as negotiated with Gov. Inslee.
In higher education, thank you for eliminating the waitlist for students who are eligible for the state need grant, which will benefit thousands of college students.
We thank you for recognizing the need to pay competitive faculty salaries so we can continue attracting and keeping top-quality faculty for our students. However, the proposed budget falls short on the need to improve faculty pay immediately. The longer we wait, we will fall even further behind.
We also encourage you to go further in three important K-12 areas: funding to support special education students, school safety and funding to train paraeducators.
The constitution requires the state to amply fund public education for all students, including those with special needs.
There also is a tremendous need to fund additional school counselors, social workers and others who support our students’ mental health, which is a crucial part of school safety.
Paraeducators, many of whom work with special education students, need additional training based on the state’s new professional standards.
Finally, your budget recognizes the need to raise additional revenue to fund education and other important services and programs for the residents of Washington, and it begins to balance our tax code so that the wealthiest citizens contribute more.
Thank you.
In addition, the House budget restores the retiree Medicare subsidy to pre-recession levels, which will help retired educators manage increasing health care costs. Unfortunately, it does not fund COLAs for school retirees in Plan 1.
The need for competitive college faculty salaries exists at every level -- within both the community and technical college system and four-year institutions.
