Hello Education Advocates!
You are invited to Washington’s Paramount Duty’s upcoming organizing meetings in the 5th, 41st, and 1st legislative districts. We will talk at each of the organizing meetings about the steps we will need to take to fully fund public education with new and fair revenue! (We are scheduling similar organizing meetings in the 17th, 28th, 30th, and 35th very soon.)
Please forward this invitation to others you know who may be interested in attending!
Here’s the info on the legislative meetings scheduled so far:
- 5th LD: Thursday, July 7 from 6:30-8:00 PM in the Issaquah King County Library, 10 West Sunset Way, Issaquah, WA 98027.
- 41st LD: Monday, July 11 from 5:30-7:00 PM at the Newport Way King County Library, 14250 SE Newport Way, Bellevue WA 98006.
- 1st LD: Sunday, July 17 from 6:30-8:00 PM at the Bothell King County Library, 18215 98th Avenue NE, Bothell, WA 98011
Will you be able to join us for any of these organizing meetings? Here is the agenda:
- Welcome
- WPD leaders’ and individuals’ intros
- Presentation: the problem, the impact, the vision, and the answers
- Discussion surrounding the answers and how to organize in the 41st LD
- Next steps and wrap up
Here is some of WPD’s messaging that we’ll be discussing and organizing around.
Problem: Huge K-12 funding gap
- Decades of state government inaction and failed policies have created a broken and unsustainable K-12 funding system — and a huge funding gap.
- Across the state, Washington’s children are hurt by overcrowded classrooms, lack of learning materials, loss of arts and sports programs, unsafe buildings, overwhelmed teachers, unacceptable dropout rates, inequity of resources and opportunity between communities (especially communities of color and immigrant 1st generation families), and more.
Vision: We believe every child in Washington State has the following rights (as identified in 2261 and 2776)
- Receive a fully funded basic education.
- Learn in smaller class sizes with the individual attention she or he needs.
- Have a well-rounded education, including the arts, music, and sports.
- Be equipped with materials and technology essential to today’s learning.
- Gain the knowledge and skills she or he needs to succeed in the twenty-first century economy.
Solution: Fully fund basic education now
- In 2012, the State Supreme Court ruled that the State had failed its paramount constitutional duty to fully fund basic education. It ordered the State to close the funding gap by the 1017-2018 school year. The Legislature came up with a plan, but key legislators have continued to delay a funding solution.
- We cannot fully fund basic education by budget cuts — that would only devastate other vital state services. We need new revenue that is sufficient, reliable, and fair. We believe every Washington child has an equal right to a fully funded basic education. We will share the names of candidates for state office who will work to close the gap and fully fund basic education now!