House Democrats and the Senate Majority Coalition Caucus (MCC) have released bills to address the McCleary education funding lawsuit.
The House plan, HB 1843, would set a minimum salary of $45,500 for new teachers, and would slow the decrease of maximum local school tax levies from 28 percent of total state and federal funding, to 24 percent by 2021, instead of by next year as under current law. The basis for the calculations is changed, as well; and HB 1843 seeks to lower teacher-student ratios.
The Senate plan, SB 5607, sets a similar minimum starting teacher salary of $45,000, and the state would collect local property tax levies for schools, adding $1.4 billion per biennium to supplement education funding. Local districts could still raise additional money with voter approval, but the amount would be capped and could only pay for extras, not basic education.
See our side-by-side comparing fiscal elements of the House Democratic plan and the Senate MCC plan with the current funding system and Governor Inslee’s budget plan here.
4 comments on “Education Funding Proposal Side-By-Side”
I am a 20 year teacher in the high school. Please help fight for compensation for Master’s Degrees and National Board. We are seeing less and less interest in teaching, today, for a variety of issues. If we do not offer financial incentives to attract and keep teacher candidates and teachers, our students will suffer with less educated, less experienced, and less professional teachers. Why would a teacher go into education, today, with all of the regulations, testing, large class size, student and parent apathy, less parent involvement, etc.? Please help find a way to keep our financial compensation for higher education and continued training.
My daughter is a 5th grade teacher in the Lake Washington School District at a school built for 350 but they have 800 students. They provide each new teacher with a mentor for their first two years of teaching. We need to fund that position for every school district. It is a worthwhile and effective program that other districts don’t have. As her class size grows, or more students qualify for services or come from other countries, she has found that this mentor has helped her in so many ways. Can you imagine being a new teacher with no one to turn to for advice when you are needing it most? The admin staff is overworked as well. LWSD is doing this right. And they are realizing paying is retaining. Our work is cut out for us now with DeVos just confirmed. We all need to pay attention and be come active as parents and taxpayers and help our educators!
I have been a teacher for 17 years. Last June I decided to do a Master’s, so that I could move up the pay scale, and better serve my students. I finished…in 9 months, going into debt however. This would be a substantial raise after many years at the same pay, not to mention a loan to pay back. Please keep teachers raises for boards and masters…we do all this for the kids.