Ryan Ferrie: Education, Steve Hobbs, Lillian Kaufer And Schmidt

Ryan Ferrie, 44th Legislative District Senate Seat Contender's views on Education

Education is paramount to our states recovery and ongoing success. Washington is the only state in theUnited Statesthat mandates education be fully funded first and it is constitutionally bound. This is before any other service or project is givenits first dollar. The sad truth of it is we are currently funding less than 60% and the number is trending down. If we do not have a vested interest in our children's futures we will fall further behind. We must recommit our efforts to our schools and educators and I have a plan to do that.

We need to take a more pragmatic approach to how we run our state's school system; back to basics. We currently have less than a one to one ratio between teacher and student, only 48% of the paid staff in the school system is teachers and the rest are support staff and administrators. Our principals and school officials need to have more local authority over their schools. If we look at each school, or district, as a separate business we can make more strategic decisions and act quicker to correct deficiencies. In order to do this we need to address the size and scale of our district system. Possibly combiningor eliminating districts may be necessary to streamline the system.

In order to do this we need to give our school leaders the tools to succeed. Principals need more control over their school's budgetsand pay should be based on merit, not service. Make sure the correct percentage of property taxes reaches the schools and children in the local district and not rely so heavily on levies. Utilize a standardized test that measures a student's true knowledge based on fundamental teaching practices. All too often our teachers are teaching our students to pass a standardized test instead of truly educating them.

My competitors Steve Hobbs, Lillian Kaufer and Dave Schmidt have all been endorsed by powerful labor unions that have a vested interest in keeping the system the way it is. How will they be able to work with these special interest groups when hard decisions need to be made? The simple answer is they will not be able to. Our teachers do what they do everyday because they love to educate our children. If we give them the ability, with accountability, they can help turn our system around.

by: Mathew Jourdan

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