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Visiting Prisons
I’ve been trying to visit everywhere we spend a billion dollars or more per biennium, and the prison system definitely makes the list. This month I got a chance to visit McNeil Island, a very creepy place. We have a treatment facility on the island for dangerous sex predators, and a former prison. We closed…
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Seattle Times Op-Ed on Internet Sales Taxes Misses the Mark
In a Seattle Times Op-Ed today, Peter Ollodart throws up his hands at the prospect of filing sales tax returns in 45 states, and consequently is lobbying against the Marketplace Fairness Act if Congress. If he really had to do that, I’d agree with him. Of course, under the structure of the bill in Congress…
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Champion For Early Learning!
I’m pleased to report that the Children’s Alliance named me a “Champion for Early Learning” this year and presented me with this nice box of stale Wheaties. We made significant moves in early learning for low-income this year and I’m glad to be recognized for it. We expanded the state’s program for low-income 3 and…
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“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…
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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…
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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…
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Education wins in final budget
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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…
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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…
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Town Hall Wrap
