Other budget bits

The "Hunter" budget proposal also includes a 21-member task force on education funding.

Members include 12 legislators, 6 each from the House and from the Senate; five members representing the Governor's budget office, OSPI, the Department of Early Learning, the executive director of the Higher Education Coordinating Board or its successor, and the executive director of the State Board of Education; and four members selected by the Governor, although two of the four must represent the business and the labor communities.

Schools districts - either in the form of directors or school superintendents - are not named, although legislators indicated they would be included in any task forces or ad hoc committees. If the budget bill goes into negotiations with the Senate, it is possible this could get changed. WSSDA has been working on this issue and will continue to press for school director voices to be members of the task force.

Another bill we have been working on today is SHB 2817, the bill that would repeal I-728. WSSDA and others have been talking with legislators about the potential impact a repeal of the class size initiative would have on school district levy bases. Rep. Marcie Maxwell, D-Renton, is offering an amendment that would signal that the funding would still be considered part of the levy base even if the Initiative is repealed. Chair Ross Hunter, D-Medina, seems amenable to the amendment.

Finally, both the House and Senate are still committed to a capital budget. Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish, has two possible strikers on the floor calendar. His Republican counterpart, Rep. Judy Warnick, D-Moses Lake, also has her own version of the budget bills. The issues will continue to get worked, but key to having a capital budget will be passage of a bill that would reduce - via constitutional amendment - the debt limit from 9 percent to 8 percent. The measure would go to the voters in November for approval.