Office of Governor Gary Locke
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - May 9, 2001
Contact:  Governor's Communications Office, 360-902-4136

Locke urges Legislature to act on education bills

OLYMPIA - Gov. Gary Locke today urged the Legislature to pass class-size reduction, accountability, anti-bullying and other education bills before the special session ends.

Locke made his remarks and answered questions at a morning press conference.

While Locke congratulated legislators on their work thus far to pass education reforms, he noted that there was much unfinished business for the Legislature to address in special session. The governor threatened to veto any budget that did not fully fund his highest priority - maintaining class-size reduction initiatives.

"Through Initiative 728, the people of Washington have spoken - and they have made it very clear - they want smaller class sizes in their schools. I couldn't agree more. That is why I will veto any budget coming out of this special session that does not contain $85 million for the maintenance of class-size reduction we started in the Better Schools Program," Locke said.

In addition to urging the Legislature to properly address class-size reduction programs, Locke called for the passage of the following three other key education measures that:

Turn around low performing schools
Allow teachers who retire to come back to work in classrooms
Prevent the bullying and harassment of children at school
"I want to do away with low performing schools. Education reform is meaningless without the ability to identify and fix academic programs that don't work," Locke told reporters.

Locke added, "We don't have enough teachers. We can further ease the shortage by allowing retired teachers to come back into our schools. I call on the Legislature to do this."

Referring to an anti-bullying bill stalled in the Legislature, the governor said, "A child who feels not only left out, but ostracized, can resort to all kinds of ways to vent that frustration. There is no room for waffling on how much respect we should give anyone. The Legislature should pass a truly meaningful anti-bullying measure," Locke added.

» Return to this month's News Releases

» View News Release Archive