I-884’s tax increase is too much, too fast

Initiative 884 is built on good intentions.

Billed as “The Education Initiative,” it aims to remedy funding shortages throughout public education with a single vote, advancing solutions for preschool, K-12 and higher education. Its motives are understandable, based on the Legislature’s relatively ineffective record in recent years.

But I-884 reaches too far, both in what it tries to accomplish and how it pays for it. It would raise the state sales tax by a penny on the dollar (15.4 percent), a very risky proposition with a fragile economic recovery underway. And while we agree that some of the funding woes I-884 addresses are critical – college enrollments chief among them – this measure goes beyond funding current shortfalls. It creates new programs and expands others, earmarking scarce dollars without meeting more basic needs.

I-884’s ideas are the product of a year of research and an effort to reflect the roles and needs of all phases of public education. It would raise an estimated $1 billion a year, spending half of that on K-12 education, 40 percent on higher ed and 10 percent on early childhood education.

The latter, without doubt, is an important investment, especially for kids from low-income households. Research shows that it results in lower costs downstream. And our state faces a crisis in college enrollments, with overcrowded universities already putting on the clamps as the Baby Boom “echo” graduates from high school. In K-12 schools, two initiatives that voters approved without funding mechanisms, one to raise teacher pay and the other to reduce class sizes, were suspended by the Legislature. I-884 would essentially fund both.

Yet the initiative doesn’t do much to address a perceived funding shortfall in special education, one that led 11 school districts – including Everett and Northshore – to sue the state recently. And although it provides incentives for teachers to achieve national certification, it retains the same old seniority system for teacher pay, one that offers little reward for truly excellent teachers.

Raising the state sales tax by a penny would bring the total rate, including local taxes, in most of Snohomish County to 9.9 percent – the highest in the nation. That would chase more purchases to tax-free sources on the Internet and in Oregon, hurting Washington retailers.

It also would raise costs for employers, as businesses pay sales tax on their own purchases. The Washington Research Council estimates the sales-tax hike would result in a net loss of 5,800 jobs by 2010 (16,000 lost in the private sector, 10,200 created in the public sector).

And it’s important to note that the sales tax burden falls most heavily on the poor as a percentage of income.

Education funding should rise in the near-term, but a 15.4 percent hike in a fragile economy is asking for too much, too fast. Lawmakers must address these issues, and it will take courage and creativity. Let them do so without having their hands tied by I-884.