(Washington State) 1.9% teacher pay cut: Lawmakers strike budget deal

[Adam Notsmith]

Source: Seattle Times

OLYMPIA — Pay for teachers would be cut 1.9 percent and for school administrative staff by 3 percent over the next two years under a budget agreement released by lawmakers on Tuesday.

The pay cuts, worth $179 million, are part of more than $4 billion in cuts lawmakers are proposing as a way to close a roughly $5 billion budget shortfall.

The size of pay reductions for educators was a key area of disagreement during budget negotiations over the past several months.

A briefing on the proposal was scheduled for 10 a.m. The legislation still has to be voted on in the House and Senate.

Read more: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2015134533_budget25m.html

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Don't worry, Boeing will be fine. :sarcasm:

[Thrill]

1. Why the fuck is it that every state with budget concerns

look to teachers to get it from. I don't get why they are picked on so much. It doesn't matter if its NY, Washington, NC, or California.

[pnwmom]

4. Because education is, necessarily, such a huge part of the budget. n/t

[Citizen Worker]

2. Now I suppose the WEA will hail this as a victory.

[Muskypundit]

3. I mean.. we could look at it as anti teacher

But the fact is, is that teacher cuts only would amount to less than 1/20th of the overall cuts to the state budget being proposed. And teachers are a big expenditure of the state. Im happy they only got cut two percent. But I think the real story is in how taxes weren't raised, and about the major cuts in needed social programs.

[pnwmom]

6. If you're a Washington resident, you should know that taxes

can't be easily raised because of voter-approved propositions similar to those wreaking havoc in California.

[pnwmom]

5. Washington is limited, unfortunately, by some stupid voter-approved

propositions that prevent the government from simply raising taxes. We just had a proposition defeated in the fall that would have added a surtax on people with high incomes (above $400K) and we couldn't pass even that.

[Muskypundit]

7. Was that one of the things tim eyman passed?

[KT2000]

8. Yes -

I am sick to death of the Tim Eyman employment charade. The guy makes his income from these initiatives that are destroying this state.

[pnwmom]

9. Right. Anything with Eyman's name on it is a disaster. n/t

[jmowreader]

12. You can't even keep the taxes you have

Washington had a tax on soda and candy. The voters repealed it as part of a general anti-tax sentiment in 2010. The tax was two cents per 12-ounce can of product.

Cuts-only isn't going to fix the budget hole the Republicans dug.

[Davis_X_Machina]

10. Is there only one school disttrict in WA?

Salary schedules are a district-by-district thing most everywhere.

[Hubert Flottz]

11. You get what you pay for...sometimes.

[LiberalFighter]

13. I suppose there weren't any cuts for elected state and local officials.