Republican legislators’ mantra last year during budget negotiations
was Fund Education First, and it was a popular one. Not only does our
state constitution say that education is the state’s paramount duty,
it’s also voters’ number one priority. To them, it is obvious that state
leaders should fully fund our paramount duty before other priorities in
the budget.
Gov. Inslee announced his plan
Tuesday to end seven tax preferences and raise $200 million in new tax
revenue this year, to be put toward school operational costs, textbooks,
and a cost-of-living raise for teachers. Public radio’s Austin Jenkins
asked the governor directly at his press conference why Democrats don’t
agree with Republicans’ preference for funding education first and
funding other, lower priorities of government through tax increases if
Democrats feel that is necessary.
Not surprisingly, Inslee didn’t want to answer that question.
Instead, he gave an answer about his current supplemental budget
proposal that ignored the premise of the question: If education is the
paramount duty of the state, why not fund it first and make a tax fight
about other spending?
You don’t have to go back in time very far to see Republicans step up
for education while Democrats made their support contingent on getting
new taxes approved. Just last year, the Majority Coalition Caucus
proposed a budget that increased education funding by $1 billion without
needing general tax increases. Budget proposals from the House
Democrats and the governor also increased education funding, but only if
big tax increases were approved.
Of course, we all know why the governor and his party don’t support
Fund Education First, they just can’t say it out loud. As the party of
bigger government, they want tax increases, and they think they’re more
likely to pass a tax increase if it’s “for schools.” Legislators and the
public are less likely to feel pressured to approve new taxes if they
went to, say, more government regulations enforced by more government
employees.
Unfortunately, Fund Education First doesn’t fit into their Grow Government First agenda at all.
– Rob McKenna