Bill hurts teachers instead of helping

A tale of two bills:

The first bill was sponsored by Rep. John McCoy. It still required all the federal mandated testing, but suspended all other tests that are currently extra and we impose. This small change would have given back a minimum of four days of classroom instruction to teachers, and saved more than $80 million.

Instead of praise and congratulations by other legislators, McCoy, parents, and teachers alike were mocked and jeered. Rep. Bruce Dammeier even compared the extra testing to his routine colonoscopy. And even suggested parents should explain this example to kids as young as 7! This bill missed getting out of committee by one vote. Now the other bill, sponsored by a Senator Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named. This bill will require a state takeover of all K-12 employees’ health insurance. Instead of saving the state money, it would cost a minimum of $30 million in new taxpayer startup costs and an additional $7 million a year to maintain. Currently, my health care is mostly affordable, but if this bill were to pass, my health care would cost so much, I would not be able to use it. Many of my co-workers would be in the same situation.

This bill creates more bureaucracy and does not help to fully fund public education, and more importantly, does nothing to lower class size. Instead of criticism, many legislators think this bill is nifty and even helpful. Many newspaper op-eds encourage the passage of this bill.

Which bill do you choose!?

Melissa Metzger

Teacher, Snohomish High School

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Opinion

toon
Editorial cartoons for Tuesday, July 8

A sketchy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

A Volunteers of America Western Washington crisis counselor talks with somebody on the phone Thursday, July 28, 2022, in at the VOA Behavioral Health Crisis Call Center in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Editorial: Dire results will follow end of LGBTQ+ crisis line

The Trump administration will end funding for a 988 line that serves youths in the LGBTQ+ community.

Comment: Students can thrive if we lock up their phones

There’s plenty of research proving the value of phone bans. The biggest hurdle has been parents.

Dowd: A lesson from amicable Founding Foes Adams and Jefferson

A new exhibit on the two founders has advice as we near the nation’s 250th birthday in the age of Trump.

Was Republicans’ BBB just socialism for the ultra-rich?

It seems to this reader that the recently passed spending and tax… Continue reading

GOP priorities are not pro-life, or pro-Christian

The Republican Party has long branded itself as the pro-life, pro-Christian party.… Continue reading

Comment: $100 billion for ICE just asks for waste, fraud, abuse

It will expand its holding facilities, more than double its agents and ensnare immigrants and citizens alike.

toon
Editorial cartoons for Monday, July 7

A sketchy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

Comment: Supreme Court’s majority is picking its battles

If a constitutional crisis with Trump must happen, the chief justice wants it on his terms.

Saunders: Combs’ mixed verdict shows perils of over-charging

Granted, the hip-hop mogul is a dirtbag, but prosecutors reached too far to send him to prison.

Comment: RFK Jr.’s vaccine panel turns misinformation into policy

The new CDC panel’s railroading of a decision to pull a flu vaccine foreshadows future unsound decisions.

FILE — The journalist Bill Moyers previews an upcoming broadcast with staffers in New York, in March 2001. Moyers, who served as chief spokesman for President Lyndon Johnson during the American military buildup in Vietnam and then went on to a long and celebrated career as a broadcast journalist, returning repeatedly to the subject of the corruption of American democracy by money and power, died in Manhattan on June 26, 2025. He was 91. (Don Hogan Charles/The New York Times)
Comment: Bill Moyers and the power of journalism

His reporting and interviews strengthened democracy by connecting Americans to ideas and each other.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.