Washington class size initiative signatures ready

SEATTLE — Sponsors of an initiative to decrease Washington public school class sizes plan to turn in more than 325,000 signatures to the Washington secretary of state’s office on Wednesday. They expect they have plenty of signatures to qualify the proposal for the November ballot. Initiative 1351 would phase in class size reductions for every grade. Sponsors say Washington has some of the largest average class sizes in the nation. Smaller classes would cost the state billions of dollars in teacher salaries and school construction. The initiative does not include a plan for obtaining these extra dollars. The Legislature already has committed to decreasing class sizes in the early grades. That plan is part of the required education reform mentioned in the Washington Supreme Court’s McCleary decision on school funding.