Update from Sen. Kevin Ranker - 11/22/13

 November 22, 2013
 Dear Neighbors,

This week is the unofficial start of the 2014 session. Your legislators are back here in Olympia, discussing priorities for the upcoming session.

I was part of one such meeting Thursday morning in which members of the Senate Democrats’ leadership team talked about our shared goals and the key issues facing our communities and our state.

Today the primary focus was on transportation. Whether we’re discussing ferries, roads, bridges or other infrastructure improvements, transportation funding is absolutely critical to our area. The Senate’s Transportation Committee today held a work session to discuss the Republican’s transportation package. I’m glad to see that those who blocked passage of a transportation package only months ago are now beginning to the vast majority of Washingtonians about the need for such a package.

I’m hopeful, as are my Democratic colleagues, that Senate Republicans will continue to negotiate in good faith and put forth a plan that can carry support from Republicans and Democrats alike.

Another priority, and the topic that typically dominates all discussions, is the absolute need to continue to modernize our state’s education system and establish dedicated funding sources. We can not teach our children with a decades-old model and level of funding and expect our state to continue to be competitive with our children being college-ready.

One such successful program that modernizes our educational system that I would like to see expanded is the Teacher/Principal Evaluation Project (TPEP). This program was created in 2010 by the passage of SB 6696, of which I was a proud co-sponsor and negotiator. The legislation established new methods to evaluate teachers and principals to ensure our children are learning from educators of the highest quality. This program is underway in Anacortes and other areas and our children would benefit from its expansion to more classrooms in our communities around state.

Improvements to education will always be a top priority, and paying for these programs is equally important. That leads us to the budget. This year we will work on a supplement to the much larger operating budget we passed at the conclusion of last session. While we do not expect significant budgetary changes, fully engaging in the budget discussions is critical to ensuring we protect and advance those issues that matter most to our communities. 

I want to hear from you as we begin this discussion. We need to advance a budget that reflects the shared vales of our communities and state. Not one that takes money from one program to pay for another, but one that thoughtfully considers the priorities of our communities – making sure our communities, and our economies, are healthy.

I look forward to hearing from you as these discussions progress.

All the best,
Kevin