After years of proclaiming the urgent need to increase education funding, Democrats removed almost half a billion dollars from the education budget in order to benefit their million-dollar campaign donor, the Washington Education Association (WEA). And, they don’t want anyone to know about it. That’s why House Democrats are now attacking Republicans for daring to tell the truth about their supplementary budget proposal.
Democrat state Representative Tana Senn leveled an attack on Republican state Senator Steve Litzow after he pointed out the truth. Apparently, Senn does not appreciate Litzow stating the facts and informing the public that Democrats’ supplemental budget proposal would remove funding for reducing class sizes and route it back to their special interest campaign donors.
The truth of Democrats’ supplemental budget became the topic of a recent article by Rob McKenna on Smarter Government Washington. McKenna states,
“The House Democrats’ budget proposal takes away $487 million in funding for K-12 and replaces it with an I.O.U. If passed, their budget will only add to the list of difficult tasks lawmakers face next year.”
The reasoning behind Democrats’ depletion of K-12 funding is bizarre, especially considering the need to meet obligations outlined in the State Supreme Court’s McCleary decision. Via SmarterGovermentWashington.org,
“House Majority Leader Pat Sullivan (D-Kent) downplayed it as just a different approach to accounting.
“Budget chair Hans Dunshee (D-Snohomish) had an even stranger take on the matter:
“‘In a phone interview, Dunshee said House Democrats aren’t planning to cut funds to reduce class sizes in the early grades. He said he put the cuts in the proposal to bring attention to how much money is needed to fund McCleary, as well as the current system of projecting budgets four years in advance, which he called ‘voodoo economics.’ [emphasis added]
“Does that make any sense? They want to cut education funding as a way to highlight an education funding problem? Try not to get stuck in the desert with Rep. Dunshee; under his logic he’d dump out your canteen to highlight the water shortage.”
In the end, Democrats’ actions are just another example of their stunning hypocrisy on education. That’s why they are now scrambling for an explanation after being exposed by Republicans.
For Democrats, it’s not about putting education first. It’s about putting their special interest agenda first.
Be sure to check out Rob McKenna’s full article here.
