Rep. White joins with local Seattle folks for education discussion

State Rep. Scott White wanted his North Seattle constituents to really understand the funding challenges facing Washington’s schools, so he tried something new: a first-ever joint town hall with Seattle School Board Directors Sherry Carr and Peter Maier.

White’s Oct. 20 Town Hall on Education Funding let people get a complete picture of how state and local budget realities are impacting our paramount constitutional duty to fully fund basic education.

More than 40 people, including parents, teachers, PTSA leadership, the President of the Seattle Education Association and more came to Seattle’s Olympic View Elementary School to listen and speak their minds.

The lively discussion focused on how the current state budget crisis is impacting funding for K-12 and on the future of the education reforms outlined in HB 2261. One point on which everyone agreed: the state needs to do a better job of funding schools—even during recessions.

“Parents and teachers are frustrated and they have a right to be,” White said after the event. “We need to do a lot more to restore trust in the state’s commitment to fully fund our schools, and the proof has to be more dollars, not just more words.”