WEA union can help fix the state budget

In the midst of COVID-19 crisis, the WEA union can help fix the state budget; here’s how To: Liv Finne (Washington Policy Center, Education Center Director) It’s nice to see you back in print. I hope this comment finds you well and continuing to prosper. OK, there’s no doubt in my mind that the Legislature is going to have to convene in special session, and the sooner the better. There will have to be substantial cuts in programs to address the unprecedented losses in projected revenue brought about by the Covid-19 Pandemic. On that I believe we can agree. You wrote earlier that WEA and its members should expect to share in these cuts, a generality with which I concur. The question will be, “What will be cut and by how much.” And that will likely involve some significant disagreements that will need to be resolved through negotiations between the Legislature and representatives of WA’s educators. We’ll save that discussion for a time when the specific cuts are more thoroughly delineated. Could WEA ask the Legislature to postpone planned increases? Yes, they could. Again, which increases and by how much needs to await more thorough information. But, some cuts and postponement will surely be necessary. As to whether or not that could amount to “hundreds of millions of dollars or perhaps in excess of one billion dollars” is, at this point, merely speculation. Were you asking for increases of that amount, I would be asking you to delineate the individual increases. Seems reasonable to ask the same about cuts. Throwing around quotes, like “in excess of one billion dollars”, could lead to unreasonable expectations. For example, please delineate the “billions in planned spending...not spent on student services”, so that we can discuss more accurately and reasonably the potential revenue savings. “The paramount duty of the state is to educate the children. That can’t happen while schools are closed…” This will lead a rational reader to infer that education is not taking place and the costs for that education can be recouped. That is an unwarranted inference. Thousands of teachers have been spending thousands of hours, working with their students online. As a thirty-seven year veteran of the classroom, who also had a reputation for detailed and precise unit and lesson plans, I can only imagine the number of additional hours spent converting lessons used in class to lessons that can be done online. For every hour of in class teaching, I spent two hours outside of class, building and revising my unit and lesson plans. It involved about a month of every summer. So, I have a frame of reference to draw upon, even though I’ve been out of the classroom since 2007. Resolving these revenue shortfalls will by complicated and complex. It will require that all parties engage in good faith efforts and avoid, in so far as it is possible, political posturing.

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