Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, D-Bothell, has made education her specialty in her 12 years in the state Senate.
She has led the Senate Education Committee for eight of those years. She has sponsored or helped pass numerous education-related items, she said, including reforms in 1993 that led to the formation of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning test; a bill to allow for alternative assessment for some students as an option to the WASL; and financial help for struggling districts. Her opponent said it’s not doing any good.
“Spending’s skyrocketing and test scores are staying stagnant,” said Jason Bontrager, McAuliffe’s Republican opponent in the Nov. 2 general election. Bontrager, a commercial real estate investor who hasn’t run for legislative office before, said he is running against McAuliffe partly because of the education issue. At 33, he has a young family, a daughter and two sons.
He contends that of the $9,000-plus now being spent per year, per child, only $3,000 of it is getting into the classroom.
“I want the teachers who teach my kids to be happy and glad they’re doing it,” he said.
McAuliffe disputed Bontrager’s figures. Of the $9,000, about $7,500 is state funds, and according to the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, more than half of it goes to teacher salaries, she said.
Still, she said more needs to be done. “We know that we’ve underfunded the needs of our local districts,” she said.
McAuliffe also disputes Bontrager’s claim about test scores. According to the state, WASL scores in reading, math and writing have risen nearly every year since 1996 in each grade that takes the test.
Bontrager also noted that McAuliffe opposed an unsuccessful amendment to use 45 percent of the proceeds from the settlement of the states’ joint lawsuit against the tobacco industry for class size reduction.
“I don’t think that’s the intended use of the tobacco money,” McAuliffe said. Most of it went to smoking prevention programs and health care measures, she said.
Bontrager decries McAuliffe’s consistent opposition to charter schools, in which experimental schools are established with state funds. Charter schools will be up for approval by voters this year in Referendum 55.
“The last thing I want to be known for is taking away a parent’s right to choose where to send their children if they can get a better education,” Bontrager said.
McAuliffe stands by her position. “We need to fund our public schools first before we start a new system of schools,” she said. But if charter schools are approved, “I am going to honor the vote of the people.”
Bontrager said he filed for the Senate, as opposed to the House like many first-time candidates, because senators have to run only every four years as opposed to two.
“To me, I don’t understand how they can get anything done,” Bontrager said of state representatives. Having four years between elections “gives you more time to get your head out of politics and get your head out of campaigning and do the right thing.”
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
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