This is why we’re almost certain to see Gov. Jay Inslee forced to call a second special session in Olympia when the Legislature’s first overtime concludes in a week: legislators who are more interested in making statements than in making progress.
In reaction to a series of one-day walkouts by teachers from districts across the state, state Sen. Tim Sheldon, D-Potlach, brought Senate Bill 6116 before a Commerce and Labor Committee hearing Tuesday. The bill seeks to stop teachers from collecting sick-leave benefits during walk-outs and strikes.
The walkouts continue. Teachers for the Everett school district have announced their protest for Friday. There’s debate over whether the walkouts can be considered illegal strikes. The teachers aren’t being paid for their time outside of classrooms during the walkouts; they’ll be paid for make-up days each school district will schedule later, as they would for a snow day, for example.
At the same time, the effectiveness of the walkouts is unclear. The frustration felt by teachers is shared by many. The Legislature has shown only glacial progress in passing a state budget that will address its duty to fully fund education. That frustration is also shared by the state Supreme Court, which has held lawmakers in contempt. Many parents, even facing the inconvenience of lining up child care for a day, have backed the teachers’ action and need no further convincing. But the walkouts won’t win any support from those who are already unsympathetic.
What the walkouts have done is to play into the hands of Sheldon and the Senate Republicans he caucuses with, providing an excuse to bring the bill forward. The bill was prefiled and given its first reading as the Legislature’s regular session came to a close at the end of April, ready for just such an action by teachers.
Sheldon’s bill isn’t likely to advance. In fact, Senate Democrats on the committee walked out prior to the hearing. Nor is the governor interested in signing it even if it passed both houses. The bill was intended as a statement and an attempt to redirect attention from the Legislature’s inability to pass a budget during the regular session and the current special session.
But the bill faces its own bad timing, brought forth just a week after lawmakers’ 11 percent pay increases were announced, pay increases that look especially generous next to the long-delayed 4.8 percent cost-of-living increases proposed in the House budget for teachers and other state workers and the smaller lump sum of $2,000 over two years proposed by Senate Republicans.
Sen. Michael Baumgartner, R-Spokane, chairman of the Commerce and Labor Committee, said during the hearing that teachers shouldn’t be protesting because raises are included in the budget proposals. But teachers’ demands — and those of many others — go beyond pay increases; the protests also are about the lack of progress the Legislature has shown in adopting a budget, reforming the levy system and respecting the wishes of voters to reduce class sizes.
The state had the good fortune to learn this week it can expect an additional $400 million in revenue for the coming two-year budget period. That $400 million represents a good chunk of the $1 billion difference between House and Senate budgets.
A deal can get done. This special session and the next should be reserved for compromise and action, not attempts to score political points and divert attention.
Correction: An earlier version of this editorial gave an incorrect date for the walkout by teachers for the Mukilteo School District. Their protest was on Wednesday.
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