K-12 class size reduction
Election Results
| Option | Votes | Pct |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | 1,048,833 | 50.93% |
| No | 1,010,327 | 49.07% |
* Race percentages are calculated with data from the Secretary of State's Office, which omits write-in votes from its calculations when there are too few to affect the outcome. The Spokane County Auditor's Office may have slightly different percentages than are reflected here because its figures include any write-in votes.
About The Measure
This measure would direct the legislature to allocate funding for smaller K-12 class sizes, with extra class-size reductions for all grades in defined high-poverty schools and for grades K-3 in all schools; and for increased student support staffing, including counselors, teaching assistants, librarians, and others. Increased funding for these changes would be phased in over four years. Schools lacking enough classrooms to reduce class size could use funding for additional staff providing direct student services.
Complete Coverage
Smart Bombs: Have a party — for the kids
Initiative 1351 staged a late rally and passed. Estimated cost over four years: $4.7 billion. So now the folks who voted for smaller class sizes have a duty to smoke, toke, drink and scratch, because that’s how we raise money in the “progressive” Evergreen State. “Look, I don’t know how to pay for it, that’s why I didn’t support it,” House Budget Committee Chairman Ross Hunter told the Northwest News Network. Gov. Jay Inslee voted against it. And these are Democrats.
Newhouse wins seat in 4th District
After the fourth day of ballot counting on Friday, it became certain that Republican Dan Newhouse would be Washington’s newest congressman. Newhouse beat fellow GOP candidate Clint Didier in Washington’s 4th Congressional District in a race that marked the first time in state history that two members of the same party appeared on the fall ballot for a U.S. House seat.
Washington lower-class-size initiative, I-1351, tips to Yes
Yes votes for the initiative to lower class sizes took the lead for the first time Thursday evening. Initiative 1351, which would require smaller class sizes and more teachers, was trailing statewide by about 12,000 votes on election night and has advanced since then. Election results posted on the Washington secretary of state’s website Thursday evening showed the measure ahead by 4,660 votes.
Expanded gun background checks passing
Washington voters clearly want more extensive background checks for gun purchases but they aren’t sure whether they want to mandate smaller class sizes in their public schools. In a duel between competing gun proposals, Initiative 594, which extends the background checks now required for guns purchased in stores to most private sales as well, was passing Tuesday night with about 60 percent of the vote. Initiative 591, which wouldn’t let the state require more stringent checks than the national standard, was failing with about 54 percent of the voters saying no.
Room to shrink
Washington has invested millions of dollars to shrink class sizes in kindergarten and first grade; an initiative on the November ballot calls for fewer students in all grades by 2019. Initiative 1351 sets maximum class sizes in kindergarten through third grade at 17 students in most classrooms and 15 children in schools in low-income areas. Classes in the fourth through 12th grades would have fewer than 25 students per class, or 22 in low-income schools.
Two gun control issues will be on Washington ballot
OLYMPIA – Washington voters will face a pair of gun control issues this fall and will probably decide whether to have fewer students in some public school classes. But, because of a lack of support, citizens won’t be voting on efforts to change the U.S. Constitution on campaign finances or the state constitution on raising taxes.
Spin Control: Clock ticking on candidate debates, initiatives
In a sign that campaign season is truly upon us, last week saw the first debate over debates, the annual exercise in which one candidate dares another to meet on the field of verbal combat, and the person challenged offers a reason not to jump at the chance. Independent candidate Dave Wilson challenged Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers to 10 debates – five before the Aug. 5 primary and five after. This may seem a bit presumptuous on Wilson’s part, considering no independent congressional candidate has made it through the state’s top-two primary, but congressional candidates must be confident above all else.