Task Force on K-12 ed recommends, but no one's listening

By Evan Rohar

The Basic Education Finance Task Force has come out with a list of recommendations for Washington State's K-12 education system. They make some excellent suggestions on how to improve the quality and equity of Washington's schools ("Recommendations of the Basic Education Task Force," Seattle Times, 12/10/08). The only problem is the price tag: $2-3 billion. From the Seattle Times:

"[Task force chairman] Dan Grimm, a former state legislator from Puyallup as well as a two-term state treasurer, said Thursday that he was inspired by a phone call and letter from Gov. Christine Gregoire to propose an extension of the sales tax to services. That would make things like doctor visits and financial advice subject to the state sales tax.

"On Tuesday, the task force voted to approve a proposal that asks for more state money to pay for things like a longer high-school day, smaller classes in the younger grades and regionally adjusted pay for teachers. . .

"Task-force members are not responsible for solving the state's financial crisis but the state will be unable to pay for the group's proposals with expected state revenue, the governor wrote to Grimm, who chairs the Basic Education Finance Task Force.

"'Task Force members must provide recommendations on how the state can fund their funding-level recommendations,' Gregoire wrote.

"When the group was formed by the Legislature in 2007, it was looking forward to years of plenty, Grimm said. But things changed and the task force did not change along with the economy, he said." ("Task force suggests sales-tax expansion," 12/12/08)

And why should a task force to improve education change with the economy? In times of plenty or times of trouble, is the need for a quality education, especially for children, not constant? Young people need a future whether the Dow is up or down. A tax on doctor's visits and other services is not the answer, however. Nor would voters who are already facing stagnant wages and layoffs pass a referendum to expand the sales tax pass . If state taxes are to be increased, they should fall on wealthy and hugely profitable corporations like Weyerhaeuser, Boeing, and Microsoft.

Furthermore, we need a federal government that is committed to expanding funding for education and other necessary services. That means an immediate injection of federal dollars into state coffers across the nation to bolster funding for education (k-12 and higher), health care, and services such as home care for the elderly. There seems to be a vacuum of leadership on these issues; we must fill that vacuum with our ideas and organization.