There have been several articles written about I-1351 over the past few days. For an initiative without an organized opposition campaign, it has been getting a lot of press. For good reason: the devil’s in the details. The Columbian writes,

By Evergreen School District Superintendent John Deeder’s math, if Initiative 1351 were to pass this election, his district would need to build 10 to 12 schools to meet the requirements of the measure; he believes taxpayers would have to foot the bill.

“It’s very difficult for me, or, I think, anybody who is in the education community, to talk about reducing class sizes — obviously, that’s a hot-button issue for a lot of people, especially our teachers,” Deeder said. “However, I think what people are not being told and need to be told is, first of all, most school districts of any size, like Evergreen, would have trouble getting to the class size that is mandated in Initiative 1351.”

The article references our policy brief on I-1351.

The Seattle Times has an overview of the issue, including noting that the Legislature has already committed to reducing class sizes in grades K-3 and that the benefits of reductions in grades 4-12 are questionable:

The benefits of reducing K-3 class sizes (which can include higher test scores and graduation rates) likely outweigh the costs, according to the Institute’s 2013 review, but it said that analysis doesn’t hold for the upper grades.

Fixing K-3 class sizes alone is expected to cost $1.3 billion in the 2017-19 budget, and the Legislature hasn’t yet figured out where to find those dollars.

I-1351 would cost the state almost $2 billion a year on top of that.

The Seattle Times also ran an op-ed by Chris Korsmo of the League of Education Voters, which recently decided to oppose I-1351. Korsmo writes,

As the leader of Washington’s only statewide advocacy organization that works to improve public education from early learning through higher education, I believe I-1351, with its singular focus, robs our leaders and educators of the necessary flexibility to employ a range of diverse and proven strategies — like high-quality early learning, college readiness and effective K-12 teachers — to help close gaps.

Read our policy brief for more on the initiative.