Big 3 Briefing, Week 10 - Our Senate Bills Enter the Lion's Den in the House

See our Show Notes

[00:00:00] Christie Robertson: Welcome to Rainy Day Recess. We just learned that Superintendent Jones is leaving Seattle schools, as we were recording this episode. And yet the legislative process goes on. So we are just going to continue with this episode and focus on the legislature for today.

This is Week 10 of the Big 3 Briefing Series, where we're tracking bills in our state legislature related to the key funding priorities for school districts across Washington state.

I'm Christie Robertson and my co-host for this series is Megan Larkin.

[00:00:40] Megan Larkin: Hi. We're shortening this intro a bit, but listen to previous episodes if you want to learn more about me, Christie, or the series.

[00:00:49] Christie Robertson: The Big 3...

[00:00:50] Megan Larkin: Yes. The Big 3 are the funding priorities that districts across the state have found to be the biggest gaps between what they need to spend and what the state funds. As a refresher, the Big 3 areas are special education, MSOC (which stands for Materials Supplies and Operating Costs), and Student Transportation. 

For each of the Big 3, we're going to talk about:

• what we're looking for
• where we stand now
• what to do next
• some tips on how to engage

We'll also give you just a really quick orientation to budget conversations since those are gonna be happening in the near future. 

[00:01:34] Christie Robertson: The actions that we're going to talk about this week; I'm going to call them out at the top. We're going to talk about 

* going to more town halls

* the Appropriations committee hearing that is on Wednesday 

* about talking to your legislators 

A lot of drama happening as we go through the legislative session. You can almost think of it like a soap opera, which I hesitate to say because this is all very serious stuff. 

[00:01:58] Megan Larkin: That's how I think of it in order to, like, depersonalize it.

[00:02:02] Christie Robertson: Right. 

[00:02:02] Megan Larkin: So I don't get upset, like, focus on the drama.

[00:02:06] Christie Robertson: If you're thinking about your heroes and the forces that are moving against them – right now, the action is in the House. We have two bills from the Senate. They are in the House, and it's all up to our actors in the House to take those bills and do the right thing by them.

[00:02:28] Megan Larkin: Will 5192 and 5263 prevail? Tune in next week.

[00:02:35] Christie Robertson: Will they survive the red pen of Mia Gregersen and Tim Ormsby and House Appropriations?

[00:02:43] Megan Larkin: Yes, will there be another dramatic vote with somebody that has to flip at the end? We don't know! It's certainly possible. 

[00:02:53] Christie Robertson: Let's dive into where we stand on each of the Big 3 areas.

Transportation

[00:02:57] Christie Robertson: Transportation. We talked about this before, but any bills related to student transportation are dead.

[00:03:06] Megan Larkin: Yes. RIP, HB 1579 – you never even got a hearing.

And RIP, SB 5187 – you died in Ways & Means. 

There's still that about $89 million in transportation gaps statewide. So what we're going to do is keep on fighting to get funding in a budget proviso for students experiencing homelessness and other special passengers. And then we're going to hopefully come back next year and deal with transportation.

[00:03:45] Christie Robertson: So is there anything for us to do about that, Megan? Or we're still sitting pat on that for now?

[00:03:50] Megan Larkin: I think for right now, we're just sitting and waiting to see what they put in the budget

[00:03:56] Christie Robertson: Okay. All right, so our two Big 3 that are still standing are MSOC and special education. And let's talk about MSOC first.

MSOC

[00:04:07] Megan Larkin: Yes. MSOC has a $613 million statewide shortfall as of last year. So that's a big gap. And, as a refresher, what we want out of an MSOC bill is to: 

* increase the current funding by 20%

* fill that $613 million gap

* add an inflationary factor

* include a decent small school factor

* include a rebase every four years to keep better alignment between costs and state funding

[00:04:40] Christie Robertson: That sounds wonderful, Megan. Where do I vote for that?

[00:04:43] Megan Larkin: Yes, it does sound wonderful. I'd like to vote for that. And the Big 3 Coalition actually worked with Representative April Berg to write House Bill 1338, which included all of this stuff. and it was great. And thank you, Representative Berg. 

And then the Appropriations Committee in the House absolutely decimated 1338. It was to the point where it was, like, this very controversial thing within the committee itself. Mia Gregerson introduced a striking amendment that essentially took everything that we loved out of MSOC, which was about a $600 per student increase, and replaced it with a $5.55 student increase. At first, when they were taking a vote on this, it almost did not pass out of committee because there were so many protest votes. 

[00:05:39] Christie Robertson: Yes, this was the high drama moment that we played in our Week 8 episode.

[00:05:43] Rep Mia Gregerson: They wanted to change their vote. Then say it! Put your mic on!

[00:05:50] Chair Timm Ormsby: Representative Pollet? 

[00:05:51] Rep Gerry Pollet: Yes, I'd write to change my vote from “Nay without recommendation” to “Yes”. 

[00:06:00] Glatz: Representative Pollet votes Aye.  

[00:06:03] Megan Larkin: Yes, and we're refreshing your memories on this because our new best friend, Senate Bill 5192, which is a Senate MSOC bill, has a hearing before Appropriations on Wednesday. So we do not want them to decimate this bill as well. and it's worth remembering what they did the last time they had an MSOC bill. 

[00:06:26] Christie Robertson: Just to remind you, it's made it all the way through all the Senate committees and off the floor of the Senate. It's done the crossover, and now it's starting in Appropriations in the House. So it'll have to get through Appropriations and off the floor in the House.

[00:06:43] Megan Larkin: Yes, that is what we need to see happen. Currently, it has a fiscal note of about $200 million. But as we mentioned earlier, the gap for MSOC is over $600 million. We want to see this bill enhanced, because $200 million is really just a down payment on the actual funding gap. If they do keep it at $200 million, that's about an additional $4.5 million a year for SPS. 

It's also worth noting that among some Republicans anyway, there is a narrative that MSOC is just like a slush fund that Districts are going to bargain away in teacher contracts or otherwise misuse. And we really need to push back on that narrative because how are you going to use as a slush fund something that you have negative money on? So for example, SPS has a $14 million gap between what gets funded on MSOC and what they spend. And it's not like you can spend negative $14 million on teacher salaries. 

[00:07:52] Christie Robertson: Yeah. So the Republicans had introduced an amendment to add more accountability into the bill, and that amendment did not pass. And despite that, it was a pretty strong bipartisan vote.

[00:08:05] Megan Larkin: It was 47 to 2. And it's definitely worth noting that strong bipartisan support. 

[00:08:12] Christie Robertson: So that's where we stand on MSOC. 

Special Education

[00:08:16] Christie Robertson: for special education, we have a $558.7 million statewide shortfall. For Seattle Schools, it is $74 million. Some of the things we want to see are to: 

* remove the cap on the number of students that can be funded for special education per district

* increase the multiplier for how much those students get funded

* lower the threshold for the safety net for high cost students

* add funding for inclusionary practice work that the OSPI (the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction) is doing

And we have with us Megan Larkin to do a "previously on" in special education.

[00:09:07] Megan Larkin: Yes. So previously on this legislative session, shocking murder of 1310 and resurrection of 1357 to the committee!

We had a pretty solid special education bill on the House side in HB 1310, introduced by Gerry Pollet. So if you live in the 46th, especially reach out to Gerry Pollet and say thank you. 

But similar to MSOC, it seemed like the House Appropriations committee was... 

[00:09:44] Christie Robertson: They balked. They balked at the price.

[00:09:46] Megan Larkin: They balked at the price. They definitely did. And they refused to even hear 1310, and instead they took up the woefully inadequate 1357. So we mourned the tragic loss of 1310. We were pulling for 1357 to get some of the things that we love that Christie just talked about added to it. Eventually Appropriations passed 1357 forward, 

[00:10:15] Christie Robertson: It just never got voted on.

[00:10:16] Megan Larkin: Like, the main thing is that they're both dead. But it's always worth noting WHERE a bill dies, because you can figure out who to target based on their previous action. 

So there is no longer any special education vehicle coming out of the House.

[00:10:35] Christie Robertson: So Megan, I still need a best friend for special education.

[00:10:40] Megan Larkin: Good news. Our new best friend is Senate Bill 5263. And we love our new best friend, but only conditionally. Because that stuff that Christie mentioned, we want to keep that stuff in the bill. And if possible, we want to see that funding enhanced.

Our new best friend, 5263, was the five o'clock bill out of the Senate, right before the cutoff. The five o'clock bill is something that Senate leadership selects as being, like, the note they want to end the session on.

[00:11:18] Christie Robertson: I was so alarmed at first when you were like, “I think they're going to hear it last. And I was like, what are they doing? Like, why are they trying to torture us? But then I realized that it's kind of, they do that with bills that they all want to give a speech about. Because they only have to START hearing a bill before the 5 pm cutoff. And then they can go as long as they want. So they had scheduled it to start at 4:45 pm. And then they all gave speeches, which is a good sign.

[00:11:48] Megan Larkin: Yes. A really good sign.

[00:11:50] Christie Robertson: Here's Senator Pedersen, the prime sponsor of 5263.

[00:11:55] Pedersen: I represent a community that was convulsed this last fall by the news that the school board was proposing to close nearly a quarter of the elementary schools in the district. Over 8, 000 kids were going to have to be moved to different places.

Because our school district is facing a 94 million budget deficit. Roughly 70 million of that shortfall is caused by the state's failure to fund the actual expenses of special education. And Mr. President, as I have talked to members from across the state, that story is repeated over and over again.

When we have children with disabilities in our education system, for whom services are required by state law, by federal law, it's incomprehensible to me that we view that as anything other than basic education. And Mr. President, having lived many years in this legislature under supervision, from the court because of our failure to fund basic education.

I don't want to be back there again. I have the other five members of my family in Seattle Public Schools every day, four kids at Garfield High School, and a husband who teaches special ed at Roosevelt High School, working with extremely vulnerable kids, some who are nonverbal several of whom are medically fragile, who really rely on us.

in the post McCleary world to provide the resources that they need to get a decent education and have a hope at a future that doesn't involve complete dependence on their parents, family members, or the state. Mr. President I undertook this bill this year because My caucus really gelled around the idea that funding the public schools, and in particular doing a better job of funding special education, was going to be our highest priority.

Now as you've heard in the last hour or so, that is going to involve some wrenching choices for us, given the budget situation that we're facing. But the Constitution is very clear. that funding basic education is our paramount duty. And so to that end, this bill makes a few changes in state law that will help all of our school districts ensure that kids with disabilities have ample funding for the education to which they're entitled. 

[00:14:53] Christie Robertson: they didn't gut it. And they gave speeches. And that is a real testament to everybody's advocacy. Because if people hadn't spoken up about this bill, there would have been an amendment to really strip it down. And there would have been more dissent. So good job, everybody.

[00:15:12] Megan Larkin: Yes. Way to 

[00:15:13] Christie Robertson: Keep it up.

[00:15:14] Megan Larkin: Definitely keep it up.  

So sB 5263 would provide about 915 million for special education. In the upcoming biennium, and that's a pretty healthy fiscal note.

[00:15:31] Christie Robertson: Yes, it amounts to about, I think, 22 million for next year for seattle

[00:15:40] Megan Larkin: Yeah. So we want to thank Senator Pedersen for championing this bill. 

[00:15:46] Christie Robertson: And Senator Braun. 

[00:15:47] Braun: and Senator Braun, yes, he also spoke, This is uh, an area I have worked on quite a lot in the last seven years since we finished McCleary in 2017. Uh, Those of us who were there for those five years of A couple of us, I think maybe the only two left in the legislature that were on the, the eight that got to sit in the conference room over in the J Lab building for six months, it seemed like, uh, and talk about McCleary there at the end. Um, One of the deeply frustrating things about that experience, and there were many frustrating things about that experience, was that we never addressed special education. For reasons I never understood um, but. The State Supreme Court did not include that in the McCleary ruling. So, We had enough to work on without that, but it was always deeply disappointing to me that we didn't really get after this issue. This is an important issue, uh, and it's one that's been around for decades, 

[00:16:41] Christie Robertson: And so after the speeches it was unanimous. There weren't even any dissenting votes on this one.

[00:16:48] Megan Larkin: Yeah, and I think that's really important to note because how we, Choose to advocate matters. If we cloak our advocacy in super partisan language, we are actually doing ourselves a disservice because. We want to keep this the kind of thing that can pass unanimously.

Appropriations Hearing March 19

[00:17:09] Christie Robertson: That's a review of where we were and where we are with MSOC and special education bills. Our two bills that we're following now, 5263 and 5192, and they're both going to have a hearing this week on Wednesday in House Appropriations.

[00:17:31] Megan Larkin: Yes, and as a refresher, last time House Appropriations had an MSOC bill, they absolutely gutted it. They wouldn't even hear our preferred special education bill. They put some stuff we liked in 1357, but it was just not enough. So there's a lot of trepidation around what the House is going to do, how on board the House is with the Big 3 priorities, and what the Appropriations committee specifically is going to do on Wednesday.

So definitely sign in pro ahead of the hearing on Wednesday, March 19th. The hearing is at 4 pm, so you need to sign in pro by 3 pm. We did an episode where we talked Jasmine through signing in Pro. And she was, like, holding her adorable baby. And she didn't even have a direct link to sign in pro, but she was still able to do it. So encourage everyone in Washington to sign in pro on this bill. Because also, our friends the conservative ladies of Washington are back. And they still really hate MSOC.

[00:18:44] Christie Robertson: If your PTA is having a meeting... I'm going to have our PTA just pause, put the links in the chat during the meeting, and have everybody click it and sign in Pro right there. Those are some really effective ways to get a bunch of people to take a couple of minutes out of their day to actually just do the sign in.

[00:19:03] Megan Larkin: Yeah. Wow. That's so smart. Definitely do that. Also, if your PTA has a dramatic MSOC story, think about reaching out to testify. What I mean by a dramatic MSOC story is, your PTA is essentially paying for things that the state should pay for. Examples that I've heard so far of PTAs that have signed up to testify are: one PTA had to literally buy a dishwasher for the school cafeteria. Another PTA there they have to figure out how to get a piano for the music program and scramble to get one donated. And then there's other stories, I think, about, like, PTAs buying, like, pens and paper and, just, library books. Basic education things that MSOC should cover, but there isn't sufficient funds.

[00:20:08] Christie Robertson: And of course about half our schools don't have those PTA funds and don't get those things.

[00:20:14] Megan Larkin: That's right. It's unsustainable. It's inequitable if you are relying on private funding to do the basics.

[00:20:24] Christie Robertson: Totally inequitable. Yeah, the other thing I want to point out, which is something that I did not realize until recently, is that building maintenance is part of MSOC. Like, the small building maintenance things. The big things can be part of a BEX or a BTA levy. But things like stories that I've heard in testimony to the school board about sewer pipes that don't get fixed, and two floors smell like sewage. Or water fountains that don't work. That is MSOC. 

[00:20:44] Megan Larkin: Yeah. There are schools east of the mountains that literally cannot afford hot water. So that can even become like a health hazard, because if kids are washing their hands in just cold water, that is not sufficient to get rid of all the germs. 

[00:20:54] Christie Robertson: So if you have a story like that, you can sign up to testify. You can do it remotely. You can go down to Olympia. If anybody has questions about that, feel free to reach out to us – hello@rainydayrecess.org.

[00:21:22] Megan Larkin: Yes. We can hook you up. It's especially important for you to testify or send an email to your reps if one of your reps is on House Appropriations.

If you live in the 43rd, that's like the central area of Seattle, Representative Nicole Macri is the Vice Chair of House Appropriations. Definitely reach out to her. 

Our neighbors up in Snohomish in Legislative District 44, Representative April Berg is on House Appropriations. And if you recall, she introduced the House MSOC bill, which we really loved. Please thank her for that when you reach out and be encouraging, because we know that she's a really strong ally.

[00:22:14] Christie Robertson: Also on Appropriations is Rep. Berquist in the 11th legislative district, which has a little bit of Seattle, but is mainly Tukwila and Renton. 

[00:22:22] Megan Larkin: Rep. Berquist is an educator himself. So the committee looks to that expertise sometimes. 

[00:22:34] Christie Robertson: District 34 is West Seattle and I believe Vashon Island. That is Representative Fitzgibbon. Anything about Fitzgibbon?

[00:22:42] Megan Larkin: He's a key budget writer. We want to make sure that we get to him. 

[00:22:47] Christie Robertson: Rep Pollet is LD 46. And that is Northeast Seattle. And remember, Pollet is the one who sponsored 1310 and has been an extremely strong education advocate all around for years. So that is a place to give thanks and encouragement. 

LD32 is Shoreline, Mountlake Terrace, and Lynnwood. And I believe maybe, like, Greenwood. 

[00:23:02] Megan Larkin: Yeah, that's my district! Like the Broadview, Bitter Lake area. I think Broadview-Thompson is the only school that's technically in the 32nd, but I know there's a lot of SBS parents that have kids at option schools or high schools that live in the 32nd. 

[00:23:27] Christie Robertson: And that's Rep. Ryu.  

[00:23:34] Megan Larkin: We also have the 45th representative, Larry Springer. 

In the 37th, we have Rep Street. 

[00:23:43] Christie Robertson: That's Southeast Seattle.

[00:23:45] Megan Larkin: Southeast Seattle. Yeah. 

And we have the other vice chair of Appropriations, Mia Gregerson in the 33rd, which is Seatac, Burien, Kent, and Renton. I'm hearing that Gregersen is go to person for education budget writing, and she's also the one that offered that striker amendment that took the $600 a kid MSOC bill down to $5.55. If you live in the 33rd, or you know people in the 33rd...

[00:24:17] Christie Robertson: You are very important people. 

[00:24:20] Megan Larkin: Yes. Reach out to Mia Gregersen and let her know that we expect to see at least maintaining of what is in 5192, our new best friend in MSOC-ville.

[00:24:35] Christie Robertson: That is for reaching out to legislators. As we said, you can sign in and testify before Wednesday. 

[00:24:41] Megan Larkin: The policy cutoff is April 2nd, but we don't have to care about that because 5192 and 5263 are already in the fiscal committee. The cutoff for making it out of the fiscal committee is April 8th. So they have to get a hearing, which is happening on March 19th. And then they have to get executive action to get voted out of committee and onto the floor. 

The House has to vote the bills out of chamber by April 16th, but we're hoping that this happens faster than that, because districts need to know what their budgets are going to look like for next year, so they can figure out if they need to do layoffs or how they're going to arrange their budgets for the 25-26 school year.

Town Halls

[00:25:33] Christie Robertson: And then the other ways to get engaged are that there's still some town halls happening. The 43rd town hall. happened Saturday. We have Rafi Brewer with us. He is a student from Garfield High School and he went to the 43rd LD Town Hall. And I thought it would be fun to have him share his experience of what it was like. 

[00:26:00] Christie Robertson: And was this your first Town Hall, Rafi?

[00:26:03] Rafael Brewer: This was my first town hall.

[00:26:04] Christie Robertson: Okay, so what were your impressions?

[00:26:06] Rafael Brewer: It was pretty cool. There were a lot of old people; I think I was the only student. It was pretty full; there was standing room only. 

We had Senator Pedersen, Representative Macri, and Representative Scott – they were all on stage. Speaker Emeritus Frank Chopp was there too – he was facilitating. 

They introduced themselves, they answered questions, And the biggest part was you write down your question and then it would get read. At the end, there was a period of open questions, although it was pretty short, since they ran out of time. 

There were 2 main groups. I'd say there was a fair amount of people in support of education. There was a booth outside with the Billion Dollar Bake Sale like, with postcards and flyers and talking points. 

And then there was also a lot of people for workers' rights and specifically, like... The 43rd legislative district includes the University of Washington, and there were a lot of, like, state employees that would get furloughed for one day every month as part of Governor Ferguson's $7 billion proposed budget plan.

They chanted, they talked a lot, they interrupted, like, questions, and just took a lot of time away. They were pretty active and loud.

What the legislators actually said. Senator Pearson sponsored the special education bill that made its way through the Senate, and so he's a big supporter of public education. Actually, all three of them are big supporters of public education, although they do know that the state is in a big budget deficit. They were like, “We can't promise everything, but we can promise to definitely increase funding for education.” They talked a lot about progressive revenue. They were fully on board with, yes, making some cuts, but also taxing the rich and taxing businesses.

Afterwards, they came down and they talked to people 1-on-1. And so I got the chance to talk to them personally. And I just reiterated my support for public education funding and said that it's the paramount duty of the state. And I think it went pretty well, all things considered.

[00:27:54] Christie Robertson: That sounds great. Okay, anything else you want to add? Anything you'd recommend to somebody going to their town hall?

[00:28:00] Rafael Brewer: I just think that it's... they had an introduction, they talked about themselves, and I think it's so cool that you get to engage with your representatives. And I think especially for someone who's murky about the political process or doesn't have much trust in government, I think this is one of the best ways that you can hold your elected official accountable – by going and talking to them in person. Not by emailing them or calling them. You get to talk to them specifically, not like a member of their staff. And you get to know that your voice gets through directly to them. And that was really cool.

I'm very involved in education funding and advocacy, and not so much in other areas, and I'm pretty one issue on that. And so hearing about the other stuff that they're doing, and the other stuff that they've done, and them highlighting their history... And also, just in general, hearing how they talk, hearing what they care about. And you get to know your representative, the person who's representing you and your district in office. And you get reminded that they are people too – they're not just a last name and a “Representative” attached to them. And I think it's just a really cool part of the democratic process.

[00:29:08] Christie Robertson: Okay, thank you so much, Rafi. 

[00:29:10] Rafael Brewer: Thank you. 

[00:29:13] Christie Robertson: You went to that town hall too, Megan. How did it go for you?

[00:29:16] Megan Larkin: I did go to that. It was... spicy. A lot of yelling, a lot of tension, a lot of interrupting. So it was pretty heated. I think a lesson that we can learn from the 43rd Town Hall is that, 

A) sometimes things do get pretty spicy. So you want to make sure that People know what you're there for. And a good way to do that is, for education, wear a red shirt. Or if you're asking a question about education, say “Please stand up if you also came here because of education.” Just doing things to visually signify how many education voters are there. Because it might be a situation where there's so much interrupting and yelling and chanting that the legislators don't really have a good sense of who's there for what reason.

[00:30:20] Christie Robertson: And I'm going to my town hall on Thursday. From your experience in advocacy and legislative circles, what do you think is the best way to actually sway legislators to do what you want them to do?

[00:30:37] Megan Larkin: I think a good rule of thumb is, always conduct yourself in such a way that you could go up to the legislator after the meeting and have a pleasant interaction. You can disagree and you can push, but you don't want to be a jerk. Because then that legislator won't be willing to talk to you and continue the conversation. It could also jeopardize the group that you're associated with if you're like, “I'm from such and such a group, and I'm yelling. And you suck!” And then the legislator might think, “Oh I don't want to deal with them.” And then the other people in your group might have trouble getting a meeting at all. So you've cut off access to that legislator. So it's really important to keep things respectful.

[00:31:32] Christie Robertson: One thing I feel like I've learned over the last few years is that legislators see themselves as public servants. And that means that they want to help. They want to help in tangible ways. So it's very important, in my experience, to ask them for things that they CAN do. because if you ask them for something that is just not feasible, they are frustrated. Like, maybe they want that thing to happen too, but they just don't have a path to it. And so, they're frustrated to be asked about it and frustrated that they can't give a good answer. And so, there's different ways to have an impact. You can have an impact for the long term. But to have an impact for this session, you want to ask for things that are feasible, maybe a little bit beyond feasible, so that they feel like that they could do something that they can come back to you and say, “Hey, look what I did.” And you'll be like, “Thank you.”

[00:32:37] Megan Larkin: Yeah, that is also great to do, because it signals that you're paying close attention. It's a way of saying, “I'm watching you. I see you.” As opposed to if you're just being like, “Yeah, we want billions of dollars!” That could signal to the legislator that you're not paying attention to what the legislator is doing. So that in a way...

[00:33:02] Christie Robertson: ...they're less accountable.

[00:33:03] Megan Larkin: Yeah, you have to know what they're doing in order to hold them accountable for the stuff that they're doing. 

[00:33:09] Christie Robertson: One thing that can happen is, if they feel like that you're not paying attention, they might start just spewing talking points that they think you want to hear, that aren't real specific things that they're going to do. They might just spew a bunch of liberal topic, talking points to get you off their back.

[00:33:28] Megan Larkin: Yeah, 100%.

[00:33:29] Christie Robertson: And not change what they actually DO in the legislature.

[00:33:32] Megan Larkin: We need to signal to legislators that we're watching them, and you can't just trot out, “I believe that children are the future,” because we're not going to buy that. We have specific priorities, which we've enumerated in this episode. And they're attached to our two new best friends, 5192 and 5263. And we want those specifically to, at minimum, pass from the House with what they already have. Ideally, we want them enhanced, particularly 5192, because its fiscal note is 200 million. And the gap is over 600 million.

[00:34:20] Christie Robertson: Hopefully this is helpful and not overwhelming to folks. I know that it's a whole... it's a whole different advocacy realm than others, with lots of tricky bits. But please know that if you're just signing in, and you're showing up, and you're telling your legislators that you care about education funding, you are doing a ton, and you're very appreciated.

[00:34:47] Megan Larkin: Yes, definitely.

Budget Land

[00:34:49] Christie Robertson: So that's our big funding areas in Bill Land, and we're going to start moving into a whole new realm starting next week called Budget Land. And what is Budget Land, Megan?

[00:35:04] Megan Larkin: Budget Land is very exciting. Roughly what is going to happen is on Tuesday, March 18th (which we're recording this on Monday the 17th), the final revenue forecast is going to come out. You can watch that be reviewed live on TVW.

[00:35:28] Christie Robertson: At 2 pm.  

[00:35:30] Megan Larkin: Right now, the shortfall is anywhere from. $6.6 billion to $16 billion.

[00:35:37] Christie Robertson: Something that's really confused me at times is that they often talk about things in terms of the four-year outlook. So that is the amount of money for four years, not an annual. And so always keep that in mind when people are having very large numbers that it might be a four-year number.

[00:35:54] Megan Larkin: Yes, that is a very good point.

The revenue projection allows the budget writers in the House and Senate to have a way better idea of what they're working with. Once they have the revenue forecast, that's the final piece that the House and Senate need to write their budget.

[00:36:16] Christie Robertson: And they do it fast.

[00:36:17] Megan Larkin: They do it fast. 

[00:36:18] Christie Robertson: Because I believe it's supposed to come 6 days later.

[00:36:21] Megan Larkin: Yes. We're expecting it on the 24th. I think that they already have them pretty much written and they're just waiting for the forecast.

[00:36:29] Christie Robertson: Oh, I see. 

[00:36:30] Megan Larkin: Something that I find really helpful to keep in mind during the budgeting phase of the session is, you can think about it like: what are legislators willing to buy? So, once they know exactly how much money they have to “buy stuff” with, you will see them adjust the funding dials in bills. 

In light of that, an example of the funding dial is the multiplier in special education. If it turns out we have a really low deficit, that's easier to make up. And if there are some good revenue packages, there's a world where the House or the Senate might be willing to spend more. But up until this point, the expectation of a revenue shortfall has meant that both the House and Senate are being pretty conservative with what they're willing to buy. 

In very broad brushstrokes, the House Dems and the Senate Dems will release their proposals, and we'll get to see exactly how much they've allocated for our priorities. Then we can advocate to get those numbers increased, and the Senate and the House are going to start talking to each other to make compromises. And eventually, the legislature will release a budget that is approved by both the Senate and the House.

[00:38:08] Christie Robertson: To just note, the way the budget works is they actually are a bill.

[00:38:11] Megan Larkin: Yes. The budget bill numbers are SB5167 in the Senate and HB1198 in the House. 

[00:38:18] Christie Robertson: ... if you're getting nerdy, and you want to turn on your email alerts.

[00:38:21] Megan Larkin: Yeah, exactly. You can follow those bills and see all the substitutes and all that good stuff. 

Notice that it is the legislators themselves in the House and Senate that are writing the budget. That's the one that actually matters in the end. Other parties released budgets. I think any legislator can if they want to. Back in December, Inslee released two budgets. Ferguson has released his budget. On the 10th, a couple of Senate Republicans released a budget. All of these give you a window into what those individuals would like and what the priorities are. But at the end of the day, those aren't actual budgets. So when legislators are like, “I don't know, you gotta tell the governor.” It's, “No, you're the one that writes the budget. Right now, we want to see particularly the House write a budget that has decent funding for education.”

[00:39:26] Christie Robertson: That said, the governor has the last say, right?

[00:39:29] Megan Larkin: The governor does have the last say. Eventually, definitely, we're going to have to pressure the governor. The governor has to sign the budget, and he has line item veto power. So we are definitely going to want to pressure Ferguson. But right... 

[00:39:45] Christie Robertson: But the first step is for the legislature to get him a budget with the things that we want.

[00:39:50] Megan Larkin: That's right. Cause, yeah, he can do line item vetoes. But if there is no money for education in the first place, that's a huge problem. 

Outro

[00:40:00] Christie Robertson: So that's Week 10 of the Big 3 briefing. 

[00:40:03] Megan Larkin: Yeah. 

[00:40:04] Christie Robertson: Next week, we'll talk about what came down from the revenue forecast, and we may or may not have the democratic budget that's coming out next Monday.

[00:40:13] Megan Larkin: Yeah, yeah, we will see. But either way, we will recap that Appropriations hearing for you that's happening on Wednesday the 19th. 

[00:40:24] Christie Robertson: You can find our show notes and transcripts at rainydayrecess.org and contact us with thoughts or questions at hello@rainydayrecess.org. 

[00:40:34] Megan Larkin: Stay curious, stay cozy, and thanks for listening to Rainy Day Recess.