Strengthening the Profession ...

WEA members gear up for fall legislative elections

School is winding down, summer is near and WEA members are … looking ahead to the November legislative elections?

That's right. After all, legislators help decide the big issues facing WEA members and their students, including educator compensation, academic standards and school funding. The 2007 legislative session is a major component in WEA's Take the lead efforts to increase state funding for public education.

Having a pro-education majority in the state House and Senate is crucial to success. Members of the WEA Political Action Committee, WEA-PAC, have recommended dozens of incumbent legislators, challengers and candidates for open offices. In Soundview UniServ Council near Tacoma, for example, WEA-PAC members are backing Rep. Tami Green. They first supported her in 2004, when she won an open seat in the 28th Legislative District.

"We worked really hard to elect Tami two years ago," says Dick Holand, Soundview president. "In the two years since, she's shown she's a supporter of our issues and public education in general. The only way we're going to achieve our school funding goals is through the Legislature with people like Tami."

Holand says re-electing pro-education candidates such as Green is a priority for his members.

"I expect we'll try to help her with her doorbelling and we’ll be helping with mailings to members," he explains. "We're looking forward to helping her again."

In other races, WEA-PAC is supporting candidates who are challenging incumbents with poor voting records on education issues. Kevin Van de Wege is taking on Rep. Jim Buck in the 24th Legislative District, which covers a large chunk of the Olympic Peninsula. Van de Wege has pledged his support for public schools; Buck says education isn't a priority.

"Some legislators spend their entire career focusing on education, and that's just not my field," Buck told The Daily World in a recent newspaper story.

Van de Wege, a Sequim resident, is a firefighter and paramedic. His wife is a high school teacher and Sequim Education Association member.

"I want to represent those of us who work hard and want a legislator who focuses on the basics: creating jobs, making health care affordable and supporting our public schools," Van de Wege says.

Reach WEA Editor Linda Woo at lwoo@WashingtonEA.org, via postal mail at WEA, PO Box 9100, Federal Way, WA 98063-9100; phone 253-765-7027 (or toll-free outside Seattle-Tacoma: 800-622-3393 ext. 7027); or fax 253-946-7612. We welcome story ideas, letters to the editor and suggestions for improving WE-Washington Education, or WEA Online.