The Senate and House have both released their 2009-2011 operating budget proposals. Now, budget writers from each chamber will negotiate and compromise in order to pass one budget before they adjourn on April 26. The operating budget summary proposals are now available online: House operating budget summary Senate operating budget summary
Budget cuts would devastate education
March 31, 2009 By
Washington’s schools, like families, have been tightening their budgets, while doing everything they can to ensure kids continue to grow and thrive. This week, the Senate and House released their 2009-2011 budget proposals, which close a $9 billion shortfall with cuts and federal stimulus dollars. Although legislators prioritized children and education, both budgets would cut [...]
House unveils budget
March 31, 2009 By
This morning, House budget writers unveiled their 2009-2011 operating budget proposal at a press conference. To provide a sense of how much the economy has worsened since December, House members said they had to cut $1.60 for every dollar the governor cut. Like the Senate, the House relied on $3 billion in federal stimulus dollars to [...]
Education news of the day
March 31, 2009 By
Senate Budget: The hard numbers
March 30, 2009 By
The overall proposed state spending in K-12 for the 2009-2011 biennium is $13.5 billion. The Senate proposed $1.7 billion in cuts to the overall K-12 budget, about an 11% decrease. These cuts are offset by $830 million of federal stimulus funds, which reduce the cuts to $827 million, a 5.5% decrease. Most of the cuts [...]
Senate releases budget proposal
March 30, 2009 By
The Senate Democratic Caucus operating budget writers just wrapped up their press conference in Olympia. The senators were not shy about the many painful decisions that were made in writing their budget. Here’s a rundown of what they talked about relating to public education in their proposed budget: K-12 education would be cut by $877 million. [...]
Help us present 10,000 signatures to the governor
March 30, 2009 By
More than 5,400 parents, educators and students have signed the Washington Kids Can’t Wait petition. We need your help to present the petition to Gov. Chris Gregoire with 10,000 signatures. Please ask two people to sign the Washington Kids Can’t Wait Petition to help us pass 10,000 signatures by Friday, April 3rd. And, tell them [...]
Education news of the day
March 30, 2009 By
Senate budget release set for Monday
March 27, 2009 By
It’s official! The Washington State Senate Democrats will release their proposed operating budget for 2009-2011 at a news briefing Monday at 10:30 AM in Senate Hearing Room 1. The public will be given an opportunity to voice their support or opposition to the budget proposal at 3:30 PM in Senate Hearing Rm 4 that afternoon. However, the public [...]
Response to Gov. Gregoire's letter on the education reform bills
March 26, 2009 By
Response to Gov. Gregoire’s letter on the education reform bills, HB 2261 and SB 6048. We applaud Gov. Gregoire for supporting changes that will make school budgets more transparent and for strengthening the high school diploma by requiring 24 credits to graduate. We are disappointed that the governor did not include a timeline for reform [...]
