Blog

The details of the House transportation package proposal

A new “Connecting Washington” transportation package was released this week by state Rep. Judy Clibborn and others. According to the project overview, it would “raise nearly $10 billion for Washington’s transportation system.” The package has been introduced in the House as HB 1954, 1955, 1956 and 1957.

Monthly state revenue collections report released today

The state Economic and Revenue Forecast Council issued its monthly Economic and Revenue Update today. Here are the document’s summary points on revenue. Major General Fund-State revenue collections for the January 11 – February 10, 2013 collection period were $8.4 million (0.6%) lower than the November forecast, but a shortfall had been anticipated due to […]

A capital gains tax for Washington? Probably not, but they're discussing it again.

Senate Democratic Leader Ed Murray has proposed a new capital gains tax. Murray is proposing a 5 percent tax on capital gains to start in 2015, which he said would raise between roughly $600 and $700 million per year to help fund basic education and higher education. He proposed something similar last year. Under Murray’s […]

Lawsuits and education finance policy

An article in Education Week calls attention to education funding lawsuits that are pending in several states, complicating policymaking: As state budgets slowly recover from several years of economic contraction and stagnation, significant court battles continue to play a related yet distinct role in K-12 policy, even in states where the highest courts have already […]

New Brief: Comparative Analysis of School Funding

In a new special report, we look at school funding in Washington — level of funding, sources of funding, and how that funding compares to other states. As it turns out, Washington’s schools are funded heavily from state sources: Washington ranks 11th nationally in state revenues per student, but it ranks 40th in revenues from […]

Medicaid: "not a bottomless bucket of money"

The Washington Post’s Wonkblog today highlights Oregon’s Medicaid demonstration project, which uses a “global budget” in an attempt to control health care costs. In exchange for $1.9 billion over five years from the federal government, “Oregon’s Medicaid program must grow at a rate that is 2 percent slower than the rest of the country, ultimately […]

Local government pension and retiree health care funding shortfalls

According to the Pew Center on the States this week, in 2009, pension liabilities of 61 major cities in the U.S. were $385 billion, of which $286 billion was funded. Additionally, these cities had retiree health care liabilities of $126 billion, of which only $8 billion was funded. In total dollars, the 61 cities had […]

Options for basic education spending

In a blog post yesterday, state Rep. Ross Hunter provides a good overview of the education funding problem in Washington. He notes the report of the Joint Task Force on Education Funding (JTFEF), which was released December 31, 2012. Created by House Bill 2824 last year, the task force was charged with “developing a proposal […]

The Effectiveness of Higher School Spending and Class Size Reductions

One of the main issues to be tackled this legislative session is education funding. Gov. Gregoire’s 2013-15 budget proposal calls for a “$1 billion down payment on the $3.4 billion in new K-12 spending the state has committed to over the next six years.” Additionally, the budget proposal would reduce K-2 class sizes in high […]

New Brief: Governor Gregoire's 2013-15 Budget Proposal

In December, Gov. Gregoire released her budget proposal for the upcoming biennium. We detail her proposed spending and revenue changes in a new policy brief. Overall, the proposal would increase spending by $2.8 billion over 2011-13. New and extended tax options in the plan total over $1 billion.