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Schools across Washington State are having to cancel classes due to a shortage of teachers, and cancel school bus routes due to a shortage of drivers. This isn't a new problem, as the teacher and driver shortage were known to be problems before 2020. The coronavirus pandemic has made these problems a lot worse, but the ultimate cause is the failure of our state government to fulfill its paramount duty of fully and amply funding public education for Washington State's children.

Will you take a moment and write to Governor Inslee and your state legislators urging them to provide the funding needed to meet all the needs of our teachers and students in our public schools?

The pandemic has had a devastating impact on our schools. Teachers are overworked and lacking key classroom support. Even though voters way back in 2014 approved smaller class sizes and nurses and counselors at every school, the legislature still has not funded these priorities that are more important than ever before.

Last spring we urged the legislature to add hundreds of millions of dollars in new funding to K-12 public education in order to address the impact of the pandemic, including the loss of funds due to changes in enrollment. Instead, they told districts to take federal stimulus funds that Congress intended to help teachers and schools address student needs and instead use them to make up for lost revenue. It wasn't nearly enough.

As a result, districts lack sufficient funding to recruit and retain teachers, to recruit and pay substitute teachers well, to provide school buses and drivers, and to address the full range of student needs in the classroom.

In fact, we often hear from legislators that they believe their work on funding public education was completed back in 2017 when they met the Supreme Court's mandate in the McCleary decision. Clearly, that's not the case. Our state government has more work to do and more funding to provide.

Please write a letter to Governor Inslee and your state legislators urging them to add additional state funding for our public schools in the upcoming legislative session. You can use the sample language we provide, or write your own. Thank you!