Basic education community forum in Kenmore next Tuesday

State Rep. Ruth Kagi hopes a major community education forum slated for Tuesday evening, Jan. 6, will give local residents a head start in understanding and weighing in on key education-funding issues that lawmakers will face in 2009.

The forum is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the Community Meeting Room of the Northshore Public Utility District facility, which is located at 6830 NE 185th St. in Kenmore.

Kagi is co-sponsoring the forum with the Washington State PTA and League of Education Voters to give parents, teachers and others an inside view of the findings and recommendations of the Washington State Basic Education Funding Task Force.

“We need our local communities to have a strong voice in decisions that will shape the future of education here and throughout Washington, and this forum will help,” said Kagi.

State Rep. Ross Hunter will be at the forum to provide an inside look at the work and recommendations of the Basic Education Funding Task Force. Hunter is a key member of the Task Force who also chairs the House Finance Committee in the State Legislature.

Citizens attending the forum will also have an opportunity to hear the perspectives and ask questions of Scott Allen, the Vice President of the Washington State PTA, and George Scarola, the Legislative Policy Director for the League of Education Voters.

“This will truly be a community discussion on education, and not an event where people are just talked at,” Kagi said. “We will all be fielding questions and comments at the forum, and the public perspectives I hear will be invaluable as I prepare for the legislative session that starts on Jan. 12.”