Magendanz appointed to education funding group
Magendanz appointed to education funding group
Rep. Chad Magendanz, R-Issaquah, has been tapped to sit on a legislative work group that will consider new ways to fund K-12 education. The bipartisan group, chaired by Gov. Jay Inslee, will include members of the state House and Senate.
Magendanz, assistant ranking member of the House Education Committee, said lawmakers have their work cut out for them in complying with the state Supreme Court's 2012 McCleary decision, which found that the state was not adequately funding basic education.
“We took a big step forward last year, increasing K-12 funding by $1.6 billion, but we've got a lot more ground to cover,” he said. “I'm committed to fulfilling our state's paramount constitutional duty to provide for the education of all children. Some of the areas I'd like to see us focus on for the next budget cycle are levy reform and teacher compensation reform.”
The current two-year state budget, which was approved last year, gave an 11.4 percent boost to K-12 education and 57 percent more to early learning.
Magendanz, former president of the Issaquah School Board, said he has long supported the “Fund Education First” approach to budgeting, which would put the highest priority for state funding on K-12 education. That approach offers the best way for lawmakers to comply with the state constitution's mandate that education is the “paramount duty of the state,” he said
