LOS ANGELES - A Washington state bill to authorize the issuance of $700 million in lottery revenue bonds for school construction has cleared a major hurdle.
House Bill 2797, which has 47 sponsors, was introduced in February, and passed a House vote last week, in a 90-7 vote.
"Kids need classrooms," said Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish. "We're creating 7,000 jobs from Aberdeen to Walla Walla while building good classrooms for our youngest students, and we did it by working together, across party lines."
Dunshee is chair of the Capital Budget Committee and the bill's primary sponsor. Other sponsors include Rep. Hans Zeiger, R-Puyallup, Rep. Derek Stanford, D-Bothell, and Rep. Drew MacEwen, R-Union.
The bill was proposed as a way to address the need for physical space to meet education funding reforms.
Such reforms were mandated after a ruling in the 2012 McCleary v. State case found that Washington was not sufficiently funding education. The state Supreme Court laid out clear goals for the Legislature to meet by 2018, including kindergarten and K-3 class size reduction.
School districts throughout the state have reported the need for additional classrooms to reduce class sizes, including 346 extra classrooms needed in Seattle, 150 in Spokane, and 120 in Vancouver, according to a report from the Washington House Democrats.
"The bottom line is voters have spoken on this issue when they overwhelmingly passed Initiative 728 in 2000," said MacEwen. "They agreed that lottery funds should be leveraged to ensure school districts have the space to accommodate the class-size reduction model they have been aiming for."
Voters passed the initiative by 71.73% in 2000. The measure directed lottery revenue from the state general fund for K-12 education, including class-size reduction. However, funds were reallocated into the state general fund in 2009 to cover a projected budget deficit.
State Treasurer Jim McIntire expressed concern over issuing lottery revenue bonds, saying such debt would be outside the state's constitutional debt limit and would be a credit negative for the state.
In a letter to Gov. Jay Inslee and Senate leaders, McIntire said issuing the bonds would be regarded by the credit market as "a step away from Washington's long history of strong financial management and fiscal responsibility" by exceeding its debt limit.
The bill still needs to pass in the Senate and is currently scheduled for a public hearing in the Senate Committee on Ways & Means. The session ends Thursday.
