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Totem Lake Actually Exists – Who Knew?
While out riding around Kirkland with City Council member Shelley Kloba she had us looking at this view, and I wasn’t sure why. Turns out we’re a little further away from the pond than I thought and that it’s actually Totem Lake. I did not know this lake actually existed – it’s kinda cool that…
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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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Get ready: SR 520 bridge single-direction closures planned for August and September
New data from DOT on 520 closures – best to plan ahead. If you use the bridge frequently it’s worth checking in on their webpage every now and then. Plan ahead for SR 520 construction closures as crews prepare for five closures of the floating bridge and highway, one direction at a time, during August…
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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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Redmond Derby Days
Everybody loves a parade! The Redmond parade is nice – there’s lots of floats, it’s short, the weather is usually good, and it’s well organized. My favorite part of parades is wandering around as everyone is set up waiting for the parade to start – there are a lot of people to talk to and…
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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…
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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…
