Office of Governor Gary Locke
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - April 9, 2003
Contact:  Governor's Communications Office, 360-902-4136

Gov. Gary Locke, Top Democratic Legislators Propose Trust Fund to Strengthen Education for Years to Come

Gov. Gary Locke, state House Speaker Frank Chopp and Senate Minority Leader Lisa Brown today proposed a dedicated trust fund that will provide new funding to stabilize and strengthen Washington public schools, colleges and universities now and in the years to come.

With legislative approval, the Washington Education Trust Fund will be funded by a menu of possible revenue sources being examined by the governor and Democratic legislative leadership. Details will be part of the state budget proposal coming soon from majority Democrats in the House of Representatives.

Locke has been at the forefront of efforts to improve education funding, and promised in his State of the State address in January to work with legislators and education stakeholders to make the trust fund happen. He said today it is the right time to launch a dedicated trust fund for education.

“For our kids and grandkids, we must act now on this top priority,” Locke said. “Education is the key to the future of our state and this trust fund would provide a down payment on stable, consistent investments in education. Such stable funding is especially important during tough economic times.”

Chopp said, “The citizens have made their commitment to schools – and to kids – loud and clear. The people of Washington want smaller classes and stronger schools. This is a step toward those goals.”

“We should, at the end of this session, not only feel that we have done our best in a difficult situation, but that we kept faith with the dream every parent has for their child,” Brown said. “That means showing a commitment to the pre-school and early childhood education that we know is critical for children when they are at a peak in their growth and development. It also means a commitment to fund the improvements needed in our public schools now and in the future.”

“There’s a lot of pain in the education system now,” said Lisa Macfarlane, executive director of the League of Education Voters. “These are tough times and this proposal will help us begin to build the bridges we need between early learning, K-12 public schools and higher education.”

The Washington Education Trust Fund will be dedicated to education improvements that go beyond “basic” education programs required by the state Constitution. The trust fund will provide a mechanism to target resources for long-term investments in education. Over time, the goal is to have the trust fund pay for:

·Early learning, so young children get a better start preparing for school
·Reduced class sizes in public schools
·Help for struggling students and low-performing schools to meet state academic standards
·Teacher compensation improvements, beyond base pay and COLAs, with additional salary increases linked to teachers’ growth in knowledge, skill and professional responsibility
·Improved access to higher education and job training by expanding enrollment at state colleges and universities
·Recruitment and retention of the best college faculty and early childhood educators
·Expanded financial aid programs, so more families can afford college

New revenue sources that the Legislature or voters determine to be necessary to meet the state’s goals for education improvement will flow to the dedicated education trust and be used only for education. The Washington Education Trust Fund will provide for stable, consistent investment in education, especially important during economic downturns.

The governor and Democratic leaders are committed to this proposal. Together, they are working to include a down payment to the trust fund in the budget proposal expected soon from the House Democrats.

The trust fund down payment will be used to provide education improvements to the governor’s December budget proposal. It will focus trust fund dollars on early learning, K-12 public schools and higher education. A major use of the down payment will be class size reduction funding under Initiative 728.

The trust is intended to grow in size and to expand its funding targets in future years – funding that will not supplant basic and higher education dollars already provided to Washington citizens.

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