Breaking News! Washington State Democratic Party Progressive Caucus Endorses Bernie Sanders for President of the United States!
On July 11, 2015, the Washington State Democratic Party Progressive Caucus held a special meeting for the purpose of considering an endorsement of Senator Bernie Sanders for President of the United States. Members of the Progressive Caucus, including members from legislative districts and congressional districts all over Washington state, voted unanimously in favor of the…
The "Poison Pill" and the Carbon Tax
The transportation bill passed by the Washington State Senate contains an infamous “poison pill” provision that would move public transit and other multi-modal funding to the roads account if the state passes a low carbon fuel standard. (See http://www.thestand.org/2015/03/fix-fatal-flaws-in-transportation-package/ for background.) The poison pill was inserted by State Senate Republicans to please the Koch Brothers…
States Leave Common Core SBAC and PARCC Tests like Rats Deserting a Sinking Ship
There are two Common Core high stakes high failure rate tests, called SBAC and PARCC. Both are paid for with more than one hundred million of dollars in tax payer “development funds†but also cost states hundreds of millions of additional dollars every year to administer. Just 5 Originally, there were 45 states signed up…
Solving or At Least Understanding the Gridlock in Olympia
The mainstream media have done such a terrible job of describing the challenges in Olympia that it is time for a more accurate analysis. We will look at two bills both of which require a super majority to pass. These are the $16 Billion Transportation Budget Bond bill (Senate Bill 5989) and the bill to…
Why are the Dems losing in the budget and transportation negotiations in Olympia?
Sunday I attended a meeting of the Legislative Action Committee of the King County Democrats. Representative Tana Senn of the 41st LD spoke, followed by Senator Cyrus Habib of the 48th LD. During discussion of the budget it became clear that there is unlikely to be a capital gains tax. Nor will Governor Inslee get…
Americans support progressive policies
https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.boldprogressives.org/images/Big_Ideas-Polling_PDF-1.pdf
The Relationship Between Smaller Class Sizes and Better Student Outcomes
In recent articles, we have pointed out that Washington state is 46th in the nation in school funding as a percent of income. Washington state is also 46th in the nation in class sizes. It would take several billion dollars per year in additional funding to restore Washington state to the national average in school…