Meet with Legislators
 
Bellevue School Board -- Community Meeting with Legislators
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15th
7:00 PM
Wilburton Instructional Service Center
12241 Main Street, Bellevue, WA
 
Our state legislators have been invited to talk to our community about what they expect in the upcoming legislative session. Legislators will speak and then take questions from the audience.
 
Why you should come...

After Thanksgiving the legislature will be starting a special session to deal with a $2 billion dollar gap.  The governor has proposed cuts that include the following from education:
Reduce funding to Early Learning by 23+ million.Reduce the school year by one week.
Eliminate levy equalization (supports school districts considered "property poor").
Eliminate school bus transportation (local communities would be left to handle this without state funding).
Eliminating full day kindergarten for students in high-poverty schools.
Eliminate National Board Certification bonuses for teachers.
Increase class sizes (for calculating state portion of funding) by 2 students -- from 27 to 29 in grades 4-6; from 28.5 to 30.5 in grades 7-8; and 28.7 to 30.7 in grades 9-12.
Eliminate State Need Grant financial aid to students (effects 70,000 low-income students).
Reduce state support to colleges and universities by 20 percent.
For the full description of proposed education cuts click here.  There are also proposed cuts to many other programs that support kids including Health Services and Human and Social Services. 
 
Last year, the state cut over $1 billion in direct classroom support...
Including all funds from I-728, the student achievement fund that covered things like class-size reduction, extended day, remediation/tutoring, summer school, and all-day kindergarten or preschool for high-poverty schools.  Each district spent the money differently and many used it to reduce class sizes. Some used it to offer all-day kindergarten to all children.
Including additional money that specifically reduced K-4 class sizes. High-poverty schools got some of that money back. Again, districts handled this cut differently (class sizes may have been protected but maintenance delayed, or librarians cut).
What PTA asks the community to think about...
Cuts will be proposed for K12 in this special session. How much? What is fair to children? How will short-term decisions benefit or hurt kids in the long run? How will K12 funding affect funds for programs that keep kids safe and healthy?
Costs are up - especially to required Medicaid services. There are more caseloads. There are also more public school children, so those costs are up as well. 
Revenues are not falling - they are stable and on a slight upswing but not up enough to cover what we have budgeted. 
THE OPTIONS: 
Cut the budget 
Look at new revenue (end tax breaks; add new tax, etc.)  
Some cuts and some new revenue
Legislators and the governor have reached out to the WA State PTA and would very much appreciate thoughtful feedback on budgeting priorities at the state level. At the local level, cities and school districts will be grappling with how to absorb cuts from the state and will also need your engagement.
 
Attend this meeting and bring your priorities to share with your legislators and your school board.  Both need your input.