State legislators talk out of school on schools
November 19, 2009
By Tara Ballenger
Parents and politicians discussed teacher’s unions and paying for schools at a sparsely attended education roundtable hosted by the Snoqualmie Valley PTSA Nov. 9 at Mount Si High School.
Republican state Representatives Glenn Anderson (Fall City) and Jay Rodne (North Bend) and Democratic state Senator Eric Oemig (Kirkland) sat with PTSA members at lunch tables in Mount Si’s cafeteria, answering questions for about an hour and half.Though the whole community was invited to attend, only five people—all PTSA members—showed. The conversation was lively despite the low attendance, however.
Anderson took aim at teachers’ unions, saying that older Washington Education Association members were running a “scam job” by not endorsing merit pay and supporting a seniority-based system.
“Union leadership has no interest but to be a political force in Washington. They don’t care about students,” he said.
Anderson also accused union leadership of controlling information to keep its members in the dark about important issues. “I’ve met a lot of good teachers, but I can say ubiquitously that teachers are the least well-informed group about how they get paid.”
Oemig spoke about the need to collect better data on students and teachers and use it create more efficient schools.
“We need better assessments that (happen) in real time and can inform teachers about students progress so they can make sound decisions about how to best teach them,” he said. With a system that would allow for comparisons, schools and districts can see the bigger picture of “what works.”
Oemig also called for more programs like Walk to Read, which separates children by ability and learning style.
Money was also a big conversation topic.
“My concern is how we are going to adequately fund education,” said David Spring, a parent of a high school freshman and third grader in Snoqualmie Valley public schools and liaison between the PTSA and school board. “Funding for the state is one of the worst in the nation.”
Before the end of the last legislative session in June, legislation was passed greatly expanding the definition of “basic education,” which the state is constitutionally required to pay for. It was the first expansion of the state’s funding responsibilities since the 1970s. However, the legislation did not lay out how or when the state would begin paying for it.
The state legislature has to find a sustainable way to pay for public education in the coming months, Oemig said.
“If we don’t have a prototype this year, we’re going to have a time bomb,” he said, adding that without a good faith commitment to funding, a new model will be pushed back to 2011 or 2013.
Rodne, though not as involved with education legislation as the other two representatives, said that the legislature has to put all of its efforts into figuring out how to pay for education, which accounts for nearly half of the state’s annual budget, while facing a multi-billion dollar budget shortfall.
“You can’t really talk about having a balanced budget until you account for the K-12 problem,” he said.
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Most teachers are great and are woefully underpaid.
If you are scratching your heads about funding public schools, which have been chronically underfunded in tis state for decades, seriously consider state income tax.
This state has overgrown the provincial notion that sales tax will take care of everything. It obviously doesn’t.