Re: “Would voters still like I-1351 with tax included?” (editorial, 2-23).
The News Tribune editorial asserts that the vote on Washington’s new class-size law should be set aside because “it barely passed and probably would have failed had the vote been a little later.”
Critical local, state and national issues are routinely decided by far narrower margins. Talk about what might have happened on a different date is idle speculation.
Initiative 1351 is a huge victory for Washington’s children. Smaller class sizes by 2018 are now the law. The Legislature’s paramount duty is to amply fund education. Ample means “considerably more than just adequate.”
Packing students into overcrowded classrooms does not meet this standard. If in a single-day session lawmakers can provide $8.7 billion in tax exemptions to Boeing, four years should provide ample time to put Washington class sizes on par with the rest of the nation.
(Boutell is the Tacoma Council PTA’s legislative chair.)