May 24 , 2017 - Emily Makings
As the Legislature begins its second special session, OSPI offers a new K–12 plan
Yesterday the Legislature began the second special session of the year, because the Legislature has not come to an agreement on an operating budget or an education plan to comply with the state Supreme Court’s McCleary decision. As the Seattle Times reports, Gov. Inslee said yesterday that neither the property tax levy swap in the […]
May 04 , 2017 - Emily Makings
New brief: Senate- and House-Passed Capital Budgets Include About $1 Billion for Public Schools
Last week we published a two-page comparison of the capital budgets that have been passed by the Senate and House. New today is a more detailed look at the proposals: Senate- and House-Passed Capital Budgets Include About $1 Billion for Public Schools. Briefly: The Senate and House have both passed 2017–19 capital budgets. The Senate would appropriate $3.995 […]
April 27 , 2017 - Emily Makings
New brief: Comparing the Capital Budgets
The House and Senate have each passed capital budgets, but they differ by $157 million. In a new policy brief, we provide a side-by-side comparison of some of the major provisions of each proposal.
April 24 , 2017 - Emily Makings
Exchange enrollment still increasing, with growth from non-subsidized customers
The Washington Health Benefit Exchange’s new Spring enrollment report shows that in February 2017, 182,232 customers had purchased qualified (private) health plans (QHP). The chart below shows the monthly enrollment numbers, as revised by the current report. (These are all plans that have been paid for.) Interestingly, there were fewer enrollments in December 2016 than […]
April 17 , 2017 - Emily Makings
New brief: House-Passed 2017–19 Operating Budget Would Increase Spending by $6.4 Billion
In a new policy brief, we take a look at the House-passed operating budget. Briefly: The House-passed operating budget would increase revenues by $2.981 billion in 2017–19. It would impose a 20 percent B&O tax surcharge on various activities while reducing B&O taxes for small businesses, and it would impose a tax on capital gains, […]
April 13 , 2017 - Mary Strow
April 11 , 2017 - Emily Makings
New brief: Comparing the Operating Budgets
In a new policy brief, we provide a short comparison of the 2017-19 operating budget proposals, as passed by the Senate and House. UPDATE: We’ve recorded a Policy Today podcast discussing the differences between the House and Senate budget plans. You can listen to it here.
April 10 , 2017 - Mary Strow
Pew Research: More than two-thirds of federal spending goes to social insurance
The Pew Research Center last week broke down how federal dollars are spent. The vast majority of spending is on social-insurance programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid: When thinking about federal spending, it’s worth remembering that, as former Treasury official Peter Fisher once said, the federal government is basically “a gigantic insurance company,” […]
April 07 , 2017 - Emily Makings
Our education funding comparison table has been updated
Yesterday we posted a policy brief comparing the various education funding proposals. After publication, we received additional information from the Office of Financial Management that allowed us to fill in some of the holes regarding Gov. Inslee’s proposal. Also, we changed the first row of the table to show the full NGFS+ policy change for […]