Snoqualmie Valley School Board elects Olympia representative
July 29, 2010
By Laura Geggel
Scott Hodgins will be the legislative representative for the school board. (Photo by Laura Geggel)
NEW — 12:08 p.m. July 29, 2010
Snoqualmie Valley School Board member Scott Hodgins just signed up to put a lot more miles on his car. The school board elected him to serve as board legislative representative to Olympia at its July 8 meeting.
Board members Craig Husa and Dan Popp were not present, but school board President Caroline Loudenback and member Marci Busby voted for the motion.
Hodgins has served as board legislative representative since January, when he started serving on the board. Board member Rudy Edwards held the position until he retired in December.
Hodgins said he had been asking representatives in Olympia to give more money to schools for years. More recently, he has met with State Reps. Jay Rodne and Glenn Anderson.
“My goal, in my public life, as well as my private life, in building schools and school construction, has always been to try to increase school funding,” Hodgins said.
As director of development for CMTS Inc., a project and construction management company, he has served on the King and Pierce county coalition of schools and worked as a consultant, helping school districts look for ways to increase school construction funding.
“We were able to get increases in the state matching rate,” Hodgins said, adding that he would ask for more overall school funding, not just increased school construction funding as board legislative representative.
After all, according to the state constitution, “It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children,” Hodgins said. “Paramount is a pretty strong word. I had to look it up myself. When you look it up, it precludes everything else.”
He referenced the February ruling for the Network for Excellence in Washington Schools, better known as NEWS lawsuit. In the ruling, a Superior Court judge said the state was in violation of its constitutional “paramount duty” to amply pay for education.
Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna appealed the decision to the state Supreme Court.
Hodgins said districts need more money for their general budgets. He pointed out that 18 percent of the Snoqualmie Valley School District’s general fund relied on a maintenance and operations levy, a levy that is only supposed to fund enrichment and supplemental types of education.
“Over the years, we haven’t even been able to fund basic education with those levies,” Hodgins said.
He added that the state Legislature had to stop passing unfunded mandates — required school programs that are not paid for by the state.
Hodgins said he knows local representatives have voted against increased education funding for various reasons.
“I’m just trying to redirect their thinking,” he said.
Laura Geggel: 392-6434, ext. 221, or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.
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