Locke has invoked the mantra of education in his quest for increased spending. Despite the spending cap, there are additional funds available to be spent during the coming biennium, so the budget will increase over the previous one. But Locke wants even more money for education than the Republicans are likely to want to give. We all want better education for our children and for the work force of the future. Republicans have been pleading for years for better education at all levels, but have argued that the road to a better educated public does not have to be paved in wads of cash.
Democrats often say spending increases are the only way to achieve improved education.
Somewhere in the middle is probably the truth. I would like to suggest that the Legislature and the governor create a special commission to study the best way to improve education at all levels in the state. That commission could hold hearings around the state and come back in a year with a proposal that could be on a ballot in the fall of 1998 or before the 1999 Legislature. Governor needs to learn When Gary Locke was the chief budget writer of the State House of Representatives, he was known for his passion for detail. He would know each and every figure and how it related to the whole.