“If you’re elected – and assuming you aren’t subsequently elected Speaker or Minority Leader – what will you do to help end the $100,000-a-day fines the state Supreme Court levied on the Legislature in the wake of the McCleary decision?”

As the child of educators who himself attended public schools, I value the equalizing force of public education. It creates opportunity, and the quality of local public schools is a sign of a community’s overall health.

In order for us to do better in Federal Way, we need legislators to do their job.

While there’s room for debate on ways to reform public education, what’s not in debate is that our state Supreme Court has found legislators in contempt of court for failing to fund basic education, according to our state constitution. This is unacceptable. Last session, legislators voted to kick the can down the road yet again to avoid fully funding basic education, even though the Tacoma News Tribune reports that it means taxpayers are being fined $100,000 a day and local teachers are facing pink slips.

If elected, I would use my professional experience combatting government fraud and waste to help address the McCleary budget shortfall. My prosecutorial experience returning over $30 million to taxpayers in health care fraud makes me know there’s more work to do. Many politicians talk about government waste. I’ve rolled up my sleeves to return money to taxpayers, and I’ll bring this unique experience to Olympia.

But slashing government waste alone won’t meet McCleary obligations, and neither will the proposed “levy swap.” A levy swap would take school levy dollars that have been previously passed by local voters and would send (“swap”) these dollars to Olympia. The idea being that these local levy dollars sent to Olympia would then be equally distributed to districts in order for the state to meet its constitutional obligation to “fully fund” state education.

However, a levy swap is not only currently insufficient to fully fund McCleary obligations, it’s also unsustainable long-term because school districts across the state (especially the wealthy ones) will stop passing local levies if the dollars are simply being shipped to Olympia and equally distributed to other districts.

If I’ve learned anything from visiting over 10,000 households in our 30th District, it’s that many people, particularly seniors, are on fixed incomes and cannot afford more property taxes – especially with rising property values. It’s why I support a state-imposed cap on King County property tax rates. It’s also why I’m concerned that a levy swap proposal that sends local Federal Way school dollars to Olympia could eventually lead to more local property taxes to fill the void. Even if we receive a disproportionately favorable return in our Olympia swap the first year, such an exchange is not guaranteed in future years.

I review any proposals in the context of whether it will serve the average local taxpayer instead corporate special interests. Accordingly, I will not support any proposal for a personal income tax, and I believe we should consider other proposals that would not create a risk for increasing property taxes.

A creative alternative to the levy swap to reduce the state’s McCleary obligation is a constitutional amendment that allows all local school levies that fund basic education to be locked in place permanently. This could be an important component and be a more manageable alternative means for the state to fully fund basic education.

Addressing McCleary is not easy. If it were easy, the Legislature would have passed it by now. However, I am committed to finally funding basic education this next session. Voters need to send a clear mandate that legislators should not continue to get a pass on not doing their job. It gets more expensive for taxpayers by the day. We can’t keep electing the same politicians and expect different results. It’s time for a change.