Washington set to take on more of cost of education

This from the Seattle Times:

The state Senate voted Thursday to expand the state's responsibility to its 1 million schoolchildren, adding to the list of programs it must pay for under the state constitution.

The state Senate voted Thursday to expand the state's responsibility to its 1 million schoolchildren, adding to the list of programs it must pay for under the state constitution.

Supporters consider the bill a historic piece of legislation, one that updates a 30-year-old definition of basic education they've long considered inadequate.

To be phased in as money becomes available over the next nine years, the bill also would simplify education-funding formulas, and usher in a number of other changes.
"It is not all right to be 47th in the nation in class size. It's not all right to have
a dropout rate between 20 and 30 percent. And it's not all right to pay our teachers 21st in the nation," ... said state Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, D-Bothell, who chairs the Senate's early-learning and K-12 education committee....