New Washington Governor Delivers on Education

School funding staged a surprising comeback in Washington state’s 2005 legislative session, considering that just last fall, voters resoundingly rejected a ballot initiative that sought new money to pay for a raft of education improvements.

By many accounts, the chief flaw of Initiative 884 was its revenue source: an increase of one penny on the dollar, or 15.4 percent, in the state sales tax that citizens found unpalatable, and that the Democratic and Republican candidates for governor in the November election both opposed. ( "Education Issues Are Dominant Theme in Washington State," Oct. 13, 2004.)

But on May 17, Gov. Christine Gregoire, who beat out Republican Dino Rossi by a razor-thin and still-disputed margin, signed a two-year, $26 billion state budget that provides new money for many of I-884’s proposals, such as reducing class sizes in public schools and giving teachers annual cost-of-living adjustments. Voters approved those items in separate initiatives in 2000, but the legislature and then-Gov. Gary Locke stopped funding...