Gov. Gregoire weighs in on K-12 funding fix – more revenue needed

Here are excerpts from The Seattle Times, article by Andrew Garber covering Governor Gregoire’s position on how to fill $1 billion of additional revenue for K-12 education in the next state budget, and what she thinks about the approaches being offered by candidates Jay Inslee and Rob McKenna. You can read the full article here, and weigh-in on the question of whether or not to add new taxes to fund K-12 education in the CFN survey here.

“The governor said she will have some kind of proposal to raise money in her budget that will be released later this year. The state Department of Revenue is working on several proposals, she said, and no decision has been made.

“I would be remiss to sit here and do nothing about education. I have to, as part of my budget, put forward how I am going to solve what is approximately $1 billion (in additional funding) for the next biennium in K-12 education,” she said.

The governor said she will have some kind of proposal to raise money in her budget that will be released later this year. The state Department of Revenue is working on several proposals, she said, and no decision has been made.

“I would be remiss to sit here and do nothing about education. I have to, as part of my budget, put forward how I am going to solve what is approximately $1 billion (in additional funding) for the next biennium in K-12 education,” she said.

Gregoire said the next governor can’t simply shut the doors to prisons or health care services if they reach their budget cap. “That’s a nice hypothetical. You need to understand as governor you don’t have that much discretion over the budget. When your caseload is what it is, you must fill it,” she said.”

http://blogs.seattletimes.com/politicsnorthwest/2012/10/25/gregoire-says-candidates-proposals-not-realistic/