| The Seattle Times headline after the legislature adjourned made me laugh out loud: “Democrats spent big but showed restraint.”
The Democrats new two-year budget is $33.4 billion — $4 billion more than the previous biennium. It adds nearly 3,000 new state jobs, and spends about $800 million on pay raises for teachers and state employees. Meanwhile, the WEA and the education establishment aren’t being held accountable for the fact we’re graduating kids who can’t read, write or do math at a 10th Grade level. Instead, they’re being rewarded for it with pay raises while our Governor agreed to extend enforcing the WASL requirements until 2103.
I don’t call that “restraint” — I call it “failure” and I sure don’t think we’re getting our money’s worth!
Denise Norman
Silverdale |
