More than two dozen parents and education advocates sent a letter today to Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown and Speaker Frank Chopp urging them to work together to pass critical education bills. The full letter is below.
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To: Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown
House Speaker Frank Chopp
CC: Senator Rosemary McAuliffe, Chair, Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee
Senator Margarita Prentice, Chair, Ways & Means Committee
Representative Dave Quall, Chair, House Education Committee
Representative Pat Sullivan
Senator Mike Hewitt, Republican Leader
Representative Richard DeBolt, Republican Leader
Governor Christine Gregoire
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
Dear Senator Brown and Speaker Chopp,
First and foremost, thank you for all that you do every day for the people of Washington, including the 1 million Washington children who are the future of this state. We appreciate your leadership in the last session to advance education reform in a concrete way that hasn’t been done in 30 years. We are so grateful because we measure things in kid years, and for the first time your historic leadership on education reform reflects a level of urgency and commitment that really stands apart.
This letter is addressed to both of you because, as parents with no agenda other than simply advocating for children, distinctions of chamber, party, and parliamentary procedure are not the lens through which we view this issue – we simply view you as Washington’s leaders representing Washington’s children.
We are writing to ask that the Senate and the House work together to pass a package of education bills (6696/2776) that addresses both RTTT and continued commitment to increase basic education funding. We fully agree that giving our state the chance to compete for RTTT funding is important. We also feel strongly about concurrently advancing the House and Senate’s commitment to basic education funding as laid out in 2261.
As the rest of the country and the world move forward with bold investments in their children’s futures, we want Washington State to take its place among the leaders in public education. Please come together to find a solution that preserves the progress made last year while creating new opportunities to bring world-class education to Washington’s children.
Thank you so much for your public service – your dedication is deeply appreciated.
| Pat Montgomery, Auburn WA Auburn PTA Council advocacy LEV Key Activist Deborah Nolan, San Juan Island WA Nancy Hartnell, Kirkland WA Ramona Hattendorf, Seattle WA Jeannette Papadakis, Anacortes WA Kris Anderson, Tacoma, WA BEST Education Tacoma Deborah Parsons, Issaquah WA John Stokes, Bellevue WA Deb Blakeslee, Tacoma WA Heidi B. Bennett, Seattle WA Patsy Treece, Bothell WA Mark Ray, Vancouver WA |
Lisa Layera , Spokane WA Fund Our Future Washington LEV Key Activist Sarah Applegate, Olympia WA Shannon Braddock, Seattle WA Liz Piekarczyk, Snoqualmie WA Christine Einslein, Redmond WA Curt Whitaker, Kent WA Jody Mull, Issaquah WA Leigh Stokes, Issaquah WA Stacey Riley, Tacoma WA Deana Brower, Spokane WA Alison Meryweather, Issaquah WA Corrine Patten, Bothell WA Barbara Whitaker, Auburn WA Bob Douthitt, Spokane WA |
