The Washington House of Representatives published its 2016 supplemental budget on Monday, Feb. 22, leaving less than a month in this short, 60-day legislative session for lawmakers to either accept or deconstruct it.
While this year doesn’t seriously address capital spending or go back to adequately fixing basic education funding — to end the state Supreme Court’s monetary penalty for which lawmakers likely won’t pay, either — there are a number of items in the supplemental budget that should stay in place.
House Speaker Frank Chopp says the budget won’t satisfy the McCleary decision — will we ever? — but it does include increased funding for teacher salaries and addresses the shortage of educators. Until the Legislature meets its paramount duty, however, it’s difficult to blame teachers for looking outside the state for the money they deserve in return for molding the minds of the future.
43rd District Sen. Jamie Pedersen said he’s pushing for $25 million in capital funding, which would be used to reopen Magnolia and E.C. Hughes elementary schools, as well as to make repairs to other schools.
The Republican-controlled Senate will likely try to stop the closing of a number of tax loopholes Washington businesses have been taking advantage of for years that’s included in the supplemental budget. The state’s completely unfair tax system must be a symbol of pride by now.
By Chopp’s figures, eliminating a number of corporate tax exemptions could generate $350 million over the next four years, which would be useful when Washington is projecting a $500 million revenue shortfall in that same time.
With homelessness being the hot-button issue facing Seattle, the Puget Sound region and basically everywhere up and down the West Coast, it’s good to hear that housing for homeless youths is a House budget priority. Chopp says $10 million is in the supplemental budget, with $1.5 million going toward the purchase of a building in Capitol Hill for nonprofit Peace for the Streets by Kids from the Streets to house homeless youths. Considering how many youths are out in this city struggling for housing — 35,000 statewide in 2015 — any real estate that can be turned into a public benefit at such a minimal cost, compared with a $38 billion biennium budget, should be a no-brainer.
Senate Democrats are pushing for $37 million to go into a housing trust fund for permanent and transitional housing. It’s painfully obvious that Seattle can’t fix this crisis on its own, and this state funding is at least some proof the Legislature is hearing the cries for help from city officials.
Chopp says there will be a number of work groups that will later be put together to assess available public land and structures that could be repurposed on the cheap to provide various forms of temporary and transitional housing, and we look forward to seeing how inventive those groups can get.
Whether it’s funding for teacher salaries, filling projected losses coming down the line or auditing state resources, we ask that the math be done correctly and the cost of improving Washington’s outlook more equitable for the taxpayers footing the bill.