Three School Initiatives Make Push For Ballot Initiative Campaigns Launch Final Effort To Amass Needed Signatures Before July 7

FOR THE RECORD: June 20, 2000 Story wrong: Seattle-based public relations firm Gogerty Stark Marriott was hired to oversee signature-gathering for Initiative 729, which would authorize charter schools. The firm was not hired to oversee signature-gathering for Initiative 728, which seeks smaller class sizes, as reported in Monday’s paper.

Washington voters will decide soon whether three education initiatives make it to the November ballot.

Three signature-gathering campaigns - aimed at reducing class size, authorizing charter schools and ensuring teachers’ salaries keep pace with inflation - are in the final push to gather enough signatures.

To qualify for the November general election ballot, each campaign must collect about 180,000 valid signatures by the July 7 deadline.

Despite some voter confusion in distinguishing among the three initiatives, backers say the three campaigns don’t compete with one another, but complement each other.

“All three initiatives are sponsored by people who want public schools to succeed,” said David Schaefer of the Seattle-based Gogerty Stark Marriott public relations firm. “They all aim for better public schools.”

The firm has been hired to organize paid signature-gathering campaigns for both the class size and charter schools initiatives, known as I-728 and I-729 respectively. Billionaire and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has contributed about $800,000 to both campaigns, with the bulk of it - about $600,000 - going to the charter schools effort.

Meanwhile, the teachers’ pay-raise initiative, I-732, is relying on volunteers.

“We are an all volunteer, grass-roots effort that has reached across all of the counties and communities in Washington,” said campaign organizer Eric Wilson, of Seattle.

Wilson declined to say how many signatures have been collected so far for I-732.

“We have a ways to go but we are cautiously optimistic,” he said.

Last week, the charter schools initiative had about 140,000 signatures, Schaefer said.

Meanwhile, the class-size initiative was lagging, but supporters remained hopeful they could catch up, said Lisa Macfarlane, of Seattle, co-chairwoman of I-728.

“There will be a last-minute surge for us,” she said.

Initiative supporters say each initiative seeks to meet educational needs not addressed by the Legislature. As the state puts its education reform into high gear - demanding better performance from students and teachers - education supporters say the state needs to follow through with a greater investment in education.

“The Legislature was told specifically seven years ago to design and enact a funding system that would support education reform,” Macfarlane said. “At some point, you can’t sit on your hands any more.”

I-728, also known as K-12 2000, hopes to reduce class size and extend learning opportunities by channeling more state dollars into education.

I-728 would not raise taxes. Instead, it would leave more school tax dollars with local districts, rather than routing the money through Olympia where it is likely to end up in surplus accounts, supporters say.

The initiative is similar to Gov. Gary Locke’s recent proposal that failed to get legislative support. Like Locke’s proposal, I-728 would recover state property taxes that otherwise could not be used because of the voter-approved state spending cap.

The proposal also calls for dedicating $120 million of state lottery proceeds each year to education.

Spokane School District 81 board member Christie Querna said she hopes voters aren’t feeling too skeptical in the wake of Initiative 695, passed by voters last November, which slashed most vehicle licensing fees to just $30 and left a large hole in the state budget.

“This is the real deal in terms of money for student achievement, smaller class size and teacher training,” said Querna, an honorary co-chairwoman of the I-728 campaign.

The charter school initiative is similar to a bill that died during the past legislative session. The new measure would allow the creation of up to 80 private, but publicly funded schools over the next four years.

The schools would be required to be sponsored by local school districts or state universities, but would operate as nonprofit organizations. The schools could not have a religious affiliation. Thirty-six states now allow charter schools, which often use innovative approaches to instruction and are intended to give parents another choice in their children’s education.

Initiative 732 would provide automatic, annual cost-of-living salary increases for all K-12 school employees and most two-year college employees. The raises would be independent of raises negotiated by bargaining units.

Wilson said some voters have been shocked to find out that teachers’ salaries don’t automatically keep pace with inflation.

“People are somewhat dumbfounded that the Legislature wouldn’t have kept up (salaries) with the cost of living at a time when they claim education must be the top priority,” Wilson said. “They have not provided fair and competitive salaries that attract and keep quality teachers.”

During the past nine years, teachers’ salaries have lost spending power, despite two annual pay raises approved by lawmakers last year, Wilson said.

This sidebar appeared with the story: FAST FACT Initiatives Three signature-gathering campaigns - aimed at reducing class size, authorizing charter schools and ensuring teachers’ salaries keep pace with inflation - are in the final push to gather enough signatures.