-
“This Washington” saves money on Medicaid costs
In an interesting article on the “Center for Public Integrity” website Washington State is called out as having a cost-effective way to make decisions about what medical treatments don’t actually work, and to stop paying for them. This is not without controversy, as you might expect. In order to cut costs and put Medicare on…
-
Brown Center: “Obama’s Preschool Proposal is Not Based on Sound Research”
While I’m not sure I agree with the scary headline of this post from the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution, I totally agree that we should be thinking carefully about how we implement a major upgrade of our early education program for at-risk kids. (Good headlines drive more readership, hence I…
-
The Education Budget
I’m pleased to report that we were able to add just over a billion dollars ($1,000,000,000) in new money to education funding in Washington, or about a 12% increase. This is a step towards meeting the obligation to amply provide for the education of all children residing within our borders the constitution calls for and…
-
Education wins in final budget
A week has passed since the end of the second (and final) special session this year and I’ve finally put socks and shoes on and shaved. This was an exhausting exercise as the Senate Republicans figured out how they were going to make decisions. I’m pleased we were able to get it done at the…
-
Washington ranks 30th in total school spending per pupil in 2011
Dick Davis at the The Washington Research Council posted about new Census data recently released on school funding. Washington ranks 30th in total school spending per pupil in 2011 A new report from the U.S. Census provides a wealth of data on public school spending. (Links to all the data can be found here.) A look at state…
-
Senate Budget – Unconstitutional Fund Transfer?
In the Senate Republican budget they transfer $166 million of the “Common School Construction Fund” into the operating budget. The Treasurer does not believe he has the constitutional authority to make this transfer and has said so publicly. The Senate Republicans are waving a letter from their staff attorney that says it’s all right. I’m…
-
Town Hall Wrap
Another town hall meeting. I should go back on the calendar and count how many we’ve done. These have been fun over the years and we keep fiddling with the formula. This time we had a full room so we took questions on index card. I read the cards exactly, and I think I…
-
Education Bills and Background
Lots has been happening on the education front this year, though the most important thing is happening in closed rooms as the House and Senate work out their budget proposals. I sat on a school funding panel in front of the Washington State School Directors Association today with Sen. Bruce Dammeier (R- Puyallup), Rep. JT…
-
Legislative “Progress” – Early March
Each Legislative session has a rythym all its own. This one is waiting expectantly for something to happen. I think you’ll see a flurry of activity towards the end of the month as budgets start to get released. At the beginning of the session I said we had three priorities this year: balancing the budget…
-
Helping Foster Kids Launch
Investigate West published awesome investigative journalism on what happens to foster children when they “age out” of our system at age 18. As a parent I’m quite proud of my kids who are both in the 19-21 age group. They are in the process of separating from their parental units and require less and less…