Would you be interested in raising the sales tax to 10.5 percent?

The Federal Way School Board seems to be interested in at least raising it to 9.9 percent.

In fact they seem to be interested in spending $30,000 of your tax dollars to sue the State in such a way as to require the State to raise the sales tax, or some other tax, so as raise an additional, at least, $4.85 Billion for "education!"

According to the State we face a $3.2 billion shortfall in next year's budget if we continue to spend at the current rate.

This would require raising the sales tax to about 9.4 percent just to cover this.

Couple this with the School Board's request, and we come to a 10.5 percent sales tax. Anyone interested?

So what's the problem? The organization that the School Board wants to join has a membership fee $30,000.

Who is sponsoring this lawsuit? Would it surprise you to learn that the Washington Education Association (WEA), and its closely allied Parent Teachers Association (PTA), several individual "Education Associations" (normally called teacher's unions), other school boards and the Minority Executive Directors Coalition are the sponsors of this request for a "blank check" from the taxpayers?

This group, called "Network for Excellence in Washington Schools (NEWS),

suggests that the level of achievement in our schools just isn't very good.

Perhaps they had been reading this column, as they have cited some of the same examples as you may have read here.

They state that "Only 51 percent of 10th graders passed the Math WASL" as an example.

What would this lawsuit accomplish if it were to be successful?

It would require that the State "amply fund" education in this state which would presumably "increase achievement."

The lawsuit does not suggest how much money would be required to "amply fund" education, nor does it offer any examples of how an increase in funds would "increase achievement."

The State did hire a consultant last year who suggested that the amount needed to "amply fund" education would be $4 billion.

Couple this amount with another lawsuit that the State is facing for "equal funding" that would require that each student in the state receive the same funding, and costing $.85 billion, and we will need a sales tax rate of 10.5 percent which would put us at the front of the sales tax pack in this nation.

The contention that increased "funding" will increase achievement is just that, a contention.

The plaintiffs cite no examples of where increased funding has increased the effectiveness of any school district in the nation.

Clearly there are districts in the nation that are similar to many districts in this state that are getting an additional $ 4,000/student, what $4 billion more would provide, in this state.

If these districts are doing better than Washington school districts, this might be at least a small amount of support for their cause.

We do have two quotes that I think are quite revealing from someone who is held in high regard by many who are involved in this lawsuit.

"No amount of money can buy achievement," and "there's this sense that education is somehow a passive activity, and you tip your head over and pour education in somebody's ear. And that's not how it works. So we're going to have to work with parents."

Who said this? Barack Obama is the author of these very perceptive remarks.

Instead of believing what Senator Obama believes, this group seems to want the State to write a "blank check" to the educational community!

The plaintiffs are clear in their lawsuit that they don't know how much money is needed to provide an "ample" education to Washington's children. Could the amount be infinite?

Is a 10.5% sales tax only the beginning of an attempt at "ample?"

Currently the State's contribution to education is over 40 percent of the entire State's budget. Is this enough? The plaintiffs don't think so.

Yet there isn't a school district in the State that is following the State's direction as far as what to instruct, and what is not required. All of the 295 school districts are "doing other things."

Taxpayers beware! There is a bomb ticking in your living room, and your school board is playing for matches!

A decision on this "bomb" will be made at the next School Board meeting on the 14th.