Our Top Priorities

Invest in early learning.
Ensure every child reads by the third grade.
The first five years of a child’s life lays the groundwork for school readiness and success in life. High-quality early learning programs lay the foundation for success. We are on the right track by beginning to invest in high-quality early learning like the Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS), family home visitation and preschool targeted to at-risk children and supporting parents as their child’s first teachers. The return on investment is clear. We need to continue to invest in early learning and support educators with higher salaries and more opportunities for professional development. (Read more…)

Raise the bar – for everyone.
Higher expectations yield results.
The single most effective way to improve student performance is to ensure there is a great teacher in every classroom. Great teachers set high expectations for their students — and themselves. We need a new compensation system that rewards improvements in teaching skills and increased levels of responsibility. And we need to pay professional-level salaries that attract and keep the best teachers in our schools. Success in the classroom requires all of us — principals, teachers, parents and citizens — doing our part to support our students. (Read more…)

Focus on math, science and engineering.
Our economy depends on it.
Our State Board of Education is on the right track by raising math and science graduation requirements. Now, the Legislature needs to fund new math and science curricula, additional classroom periods and the qualified teachers that will be required. Our state must continue to expand higher education enrollments in math and science degrees to fuel the growth of our increasingly technology-driven economy.

Prepare every student for college, work and life.
Create opportunity with college and workforce training.
As a society we can no longer afford a system that leaves many students behind with a poor or mediocre education. Rigorous graduation standards, a strong foundation in math and science and quality career and technical education opportunities, taken together, will ensure every student who works hard will be ready to pursue college or skills training, or land a living-wage job after high school. To maximize opportunities for all, our state must keep college affordable.

Fund our future.
More investments, more accountability.
Washington’s future depends on citizens demanding the excellent schools our children deserve — and, of course, on our willingness to fund them. Our state continues to run schools based on outdated expectations with below average resources. Transforming our schools will require overhauling outdated accounting and data management systems, which are essential tools to improving performance. It will require, as a measure of last resort, intervention in consistently underperforming schools. Our goal must be nothing less than the best public education system in the nation.