What were you expecting, unswerving fealty to the truth? If you know the state teachers union, the Washington Education Association, you know better than that.
Already one of Olympia’s biggest political spenders, the WEA is running radio ads in markets around the state. As usual, they’re bashing Republicans big time, because that’s what the union exists to do. The tax-hungry group despises Senate Republicans’ budget proposal, because it only increases school funding by a lot, not the whole-heckin’-lot the union wants.
The WEA isn’t going to let the truth get in the way of a good old fashioned tar-and-feather job. Their radio ad even tries to tie legislative Republicans to “the Trump-DeVos education agenda,” because hey, that’s almost tangentially related, and besides, it sounds ominous.
You can listen to the ad here yourself. This is what the WEA claims:
The Senate Republican budget is a page out of the Trump-DeVos education agenda. They promise a lot, but their budget is just a shell game that doesn’t increase funding or address inequality in our schools.
The Senate Republican budget slashes spending for special education, takes away local flexibility and local control of schools, forcing many districts to cut teacher pay and fire school employees.
So let’s go through, distortions, and omissions.
“The Trump-DeVos education agenda”: Neither the Senate Republicans’ nor the House Democrats’ budget proposals have anything to do with Trump, national education policy, or the federal Dept. of Education. The Republican budget contains nothing about school choice, which is the issue Betsy DeVos is known for. So why mention it in the ad? It’s nothing but a scare tactic.
“They promise a lot”: And deliver a lot. State funding for K-12 is through the roof and will go higher yet this year. The amount spent per student has grown rapidly already.
“Their budget is just a shell game”: The union doesn’t like that Senate Republicans’ budget would raise state property taxes but lower local property taxes (called a levy swap). The WEA wants state property taxes to go up while simultaneously keeping property taxes high, too. Anything else is a “shell game” to them, but the union doesn’t spell out in the ad what they really want – that would be unpopular with voters.
“Doesn’t increase funding”: Oh come on, that’s not even remotely true. The WEA doesn’t want to talk about total state and local money spent per student because if people knew the full picture, they’d expect better performance for their tax dollars.
“Or address inequality”: This might be the biggest whopper of all. The McCleary decision specifically called out how unequal school funding is between rich and poor districts. The court declared it unconstitutional. But the union wants to keep local taxes high, which is exactly what creates the gap in the first place. The WEA fully supports inequality!
“Slashes spending for special education”: The Senate budget provides $7,500 in additional funding for special education students, beyond the standard allocation.
“Takes away local flexibility and local control”: A classic union claim. By “local control,” the WEA means keeping local property taxes high. And did we mention that whole “the union supports inequality” thing? Their version of “local flexibility” is what drives that.
“Forcing many districts to cut teacher pay”: Creating a fair teacher pay system is part of what legislators are negotiating over right now. A fair system would pay teachers similar base salaries but provide for differences in the cost of living between, say, Odessa and Bellevue. It’s funny that the ad says “some districts” – maybe that’s because salaries in some districts are way overboard.
“And fire school employees”: If some districts had to reduce staff at these per-pupil spending levels, that would really be saying something.
We know that you’re not shocked by any of this – because you never expected anything better from the WEA in the first place, and certainly not the truth.
Nothing surprising there, just typical of public sector unions… gimme, gimme, gimme. There’s no regard for the hard working taxpayers that ultimately, are compelled to pay for their greed.
The levy swap is the very definition of a shell game: it would deliver $0 in new money to schools, but further increase taxes on the most heavily-taxed districts in the state (e,g. Seattle) while increasing the difference between what lower-taxed districts pay in taxes, and what they receive in government services.
We might hope Republicans would have dropped the whole scam after Rob McKenna rode it to defeat in our 2012 governor’s election, but the allure of taxing other people to pay for one’s own government services just never loses allure.
Socialism, thy name is Republican.
If Socialism, thy name is Republican, then we can assume the WEA and Democrats would be named Communism.
That’s all you’ve got? Sad.
The levy swap would tax higher-income districts more and lower-income districts less. Since there would be no increase in money spent on education, the levy swap is governmental redistribution of wealth, pure and simple, for its own sake.
Socialism, thy name is Republican.
Marxist, Lenninist, thy name is Tensor
Would be slightly less weak if you had spelled “Leninist” properly, but then again, Ignorance is pretty much your only Strength, now isn’t it?
Anyone want to take a shot at showing how the levy swap is *not* a wealth-redistribution shell game? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
Socialism, thy name is Republican.
Wrong.
RINOs are not Republicans, they are traitors as much as any ignorant Democrat who is allowing education to stay in the toilet in WA.
Well then, please remove all the RINOs from the legislature, and we’ll call it done.
Ask Shift to help you; they seem to know a lot of Republican legislators, and would certainly want to help you remove “traitors” from our legislature, right?
Good luck with that.
Greetings,
Your incessant whining and accusations contribute nothing toward reaching a solution to the serious challenges facing public education in Washington State.
Sincerely,
Andrew Gregg,
Vancouver, WA
Actually, if I recall correctly…Bernie Sanders is a Socialist (and a member of the DNC).
Greetings,
Public employees are also hard-working taxpayers. Their work is different from those who are in the private sector, and misunderstandings are the norm.
WEA’s mission is to improve the compensation packages for its dues-paying members. That is no secret!
Almost every business, and certainly every profession, has some kind of advocacy entity to promote laws and policies favorable to those who belong.
Lobbyists from every angle are well-paid to influence Washington State’s Legislators to allocate scarce revenue to their clients’ program, agency, or service district.
There is insufficient pie to go around, so the budgeting discussion intensifies, and everyone appears to be greedy in the process.
If more effort were expended to collect the existing taxes, fees, and seek removal of restrictive regulations, revenues would increase dramatically.
For instance, in Southwest Washington, many motorist avoid sales tax by registering their vehicles in Oregon. WSP employed a very lucrative program by which unregistered residents were compelled to properly license their vehicles, and paid a hefty fine for their attempt to skirt the law.
Simply promoting new taxes is a lazy means of solving Washington State’s fiscal problems.
Washington State’s government must do more with less, and have the courage to dismantle publically funded empires that no longer pay dividends high enough to justify their existence.
Food for thought: Do we really need 39 separate county governments, replete with 39 separate agencies for the myriad of public services? Are 295 individual school districts really necessary,with dedicated district office staffs, ostensibly existing to ensure “local control?” Elected school boards would admirably uphold community standards, even if a regional superintendent was responsible for operational responsibilities. Could the Department of Corrections be privatized to save money?
Neither a bleeding heart liberal, union goon, nor reactionary conservative, I am a proud Washington State native who wants his home to be well-regulated, safe, and successful. To those ends, I support co-operation as we try to solve our problems.
There are so many talented people on both sides of the aisle, it is tiresome to expend so much energy in pursuit of gridlock, enmity, and the hollow joy of out-foxing one’s political opponent.
Sincerely,
Andrew Gregg,
Vancouver, WA
Andrew – Thank you for sharing your common sense thoughts! Very nice indeed.
Shannon
@disqus_ohG2rchFNy:disqus Your assertion that “there is insufficient pie to go around” causes me to wonder… who – until 2013 – has been in control of the state legislature? The tax happy Democrats! Now that conservatives, which includes two Democrats in the Senate – have formed a coalition, to control that side of the legislature, does that make them greedy when they are looking out for us taxpayers who are getting fleeced in Snohomish, King, and Pierce counties by Sound Transit’s Prop. 1 which will use a 19th century technology to try solving a 21st century transportation issue? I think not. (Sure, you may not think it impacts you now, but it will, eventually.) The fact is, such circumstances only make it more difficult for those of us who are on fixed incomes to deal with rising taxes that come along with such asinine projects that will never benefit us who have to pay them, let alone the rest of the state.
BTW, I speak from first-hand experience with the W.E.A. I was forced to join a union I didn’t want to be part of and pay dues for 29 years before I resigned because they refused to “go to bat” for me when I submitted my grievances against an administrator. I submit to you that it is NOT the mission of the W.E.A. to improve our compensation packages… it is to grow their political clout by having a law – arranged by the legislature of the ’60s – which forces every teacher in WA to be a dues paying member so they can threaten legislators with being removed from their office if they don’t play along with their agenda. It’s a racket, pure and simple!
Greetings, Jon!
Many thanks for the opportunity to clarify; written communication is vulnerable to interpretation.
In terms of greediness, I was referring to parties interested in gaining funding for their governmental operation. You may notice that even conservative citizen legislators do not refuse their base salary or per diem supplements throughout protracted sessions. They earn, and I said earn, compensation similar to teachers, law enforcement, or other professional state employees. Having said that, I meant to illustrate that anyone who seeks a slice of the state budget is vying with others for their portion of General Fund Pie, and the feeding frenzy smacks of greed to outside observers.
As a Southwest Washingtonian, I am inundated with Oregon political news, and the woes of the Puget Sound taxpayer are as under-reported in our neck of the woods as they must be east of the Cascades. We might as well be the northernmost end of the Willamette Valley. You are correct in pointing out my provincial view regarding Sound Transit, but that may count as a publically-funded empire to which I alluded.
As for characterizing W.E.A. as a “racket,” the same accusation can be made for any labor union or professional association. Membership is the gateway to employment in so many careers. Just as some work requires specific training, university degree, or certification, association membership is just one more hurdle that must be cleared to gain employment in a given field.
Nobody questions that a teacher, lawyer, accountant, or physician must have a university degree to practice. Why is it a stretch that membership in an association is not required as well? That is how the system works.
Maybe the requirements to practice in a particular walk of life are a throwback to the Guilds when skilled jobs were like clubs, and only dues-paying members have privileges.
Your unfortunate experience with a W.E.A. representative who, despicably, would not act as your advocate in a workplace grievance has, clearly and justifiably, soured you on the organization. Especially after falling a year short of a full pension, nobody will fault you your bitterness. Many Washington educators resent W.E.A. and their proclivity for promoting policies with which conservative members disagree. Their alternative is to work in private education settings, or the public school districts, few as they may be, that are not represented by Washington Education Association.
With every best wish,
Andrew Gregg,
Vancouver, WA
Dear Jon,
It is a party whose goal is to secure a bigger piece of the General Fund Pie at the expense of other government agencies who appears to be greedy. If the State Senators you mention engage in that activity under the guise of protecting a particular constituency, then my answer would be “Yes.”
Southwest Washingtonians primarily hear about Oregon’s political, economic, and social challenges, so please excuse my ignorance regarding Sound Transit’s apparent largess. S.T. may be one of the public empires to be, as I suggested, dismantled.
Your unfortunate experience with a W.E.A. representative who refused to be your strong advocate in a workplace grievance was despicable; you deserved a staunch defense from the union. As you were compelled to resign after twenty-nine-years’ teaching experience, one short of traditional qualification for full retirement benefits earned through long professional service, no one can possibly fault you your bitterness toward W.E.A.
Every profession has hoops through which its members must jump. Attorneys, physicians, teachers, accountants, and pharmacists must have earned a college degree, passed qualifying examinations, and annually meet continuing education requirements to maintain their respective certifications. I am sure you recall “Clock Hours.”
Teachers who seek to avoid the W.E.A.’s yoke may freely work in private education settings or the few remaining public education districts which do not demand union membership. For instance, Educational Service Districts employ thousands of Washington State certificated teachers, and none, to my knowledge, are represented by W.E.A.
Before I responded to your reply, I read through your previous posts in a sincere attempt to understand your viewpoints, political outlook, and biases, and gained insights as to where Jon Higley is coming from as a contributor to Shift.
I discovered that your positions are just a bit to Evergreen Freedom Foundation’s right.
Of course, I respect your disdain for far left agendas, but I also regard you as an able man whose energies would go a great distance in pursuit of solving Washington State’s challenges.
With every best wish,
Andrew Gregg,
Vancouver, WA
You are evil people who don’t comprehend schooling, administration nor how bad our schools are crumbling.
You are blind as the proverbial bat.
Greetings,
It is too easy to cast unsubstantiated aspersions on correspondents of whom you know nothing.
You past posts provide ample evidence that you are neither interested in reaching practical solutions to our problems, nor offering suggestions that will advance Washington State’s prospects for improvement.
Furthermore, your anonymity is cowardly.
True patriots, political points of view notwithstanding, are unafraid to sign their real name to correspondence.
Respectfully,
Andrew Gregg,
Vancouver, WA
There’s really no dealing with rabid libs.
How about law banning unionization of publicly funded organizations!
How is it possible for the WEA and the SEIU to do a proposition to lower the class size when the only instrument available to them to affect their job is the union contract? Lets do a proposition to decrease the their salaries by 50%, then we can hire twice as many. We can have two shifts a day so we don’t have to build as many classrooms.