We Believe:

Education

• The backbone of our democracy is a free, high quality, universal Pre-K through 12 grade public-school system, designed to develop lifelong learners prepared to think critically and participate in our civic society;
• All people have the right to attend schools where their physical, emotional, and cultural safety is assured; Education means investing in all people and preparing them to live, work, and thrive in a multicultural, multilingual, and highly connected world;
• All people have the right to attend schools where their physical, emotional, and cultural safety is assured; their background and identities are valued and affirmed; Education means investing in all people and preparing them to live, work, and thrive in a multicultural, multilingual, and highly connected world;
• No one should be denied an education because of membership in any socioeconomic, linguistic, or ethnic group, or because of a disability;
• Every school must be adequately funded to have the staff and resources it needs to provide a full education, extracurricular and enrichment, after school activities, and appropriate services for all students;
• Our schools should help our children learn critical social and emotional skills, and identify and address mental health concerns, with adequate funding from the state in order to address the youth mental health crisis.
• Societal inequality impacts educational equity and must be addressed as it impacts the whole person: physically, mentally, socially and emotionally for the benefit of all learners..
• Every public school must receive sufficient state resources to provide a rich and equitable curriculum in every neighborhood of our state.
• The establishment clause of the First Amendment applies to public schools as with the government as a whole;
• Privacy laws regarding student and employee information should be respected and enforced;
• Early learning includes high quality and accessible childcare, home visiting services, Head Start and Early Childhood Education and Assistance Programs and deserves equal support and funding from the State to ensure high quality, accessible and culturally relevant childcare is affordable to families through state-funded tuition and program support. Programs should include support for a diversity of early learning centers and home-based programs with access to learning and development specialists and therapists;

Pre-K Education

• Teacher to student ratios must be calculated using the number of classroom teachers only and kept within research based best practices for optimal student growth.
• Special education services should not have enrollment caps arbitrarily assigned which limit funding, should have ample staff training and support, inclusivity in classrooms, multi-tiered layers of support, adequate school district reimbursement access, and discontinue isolation in school facilities.
• Enacting educational policies that protect Queer, Transgender, and gender non-conforming youth from bullying, harassment, and violence in schools and communities and promote the inclusion of Queer, Transgender, and gender non-conforming Americans.
• In the importance of state supported early education, especially for working families, from birth to pre-K, such as affordable, high quality childcare, learning and development specialists, and therapists, as this is a peak time of childhood development and learning; 
• Lowering the compulsory school age for children from 8 to 5. Washington is the only state with an age requirement that doesn’t start until age 8;
• In ensuring that childcare providers are adequately compensated and providing quality child care is a sustainable profession. 
• Supporting early learning dual language programs is a critical way to ensure access for all children and develop a love of learning, to engage families, and to recognize the benefits of bilingual skills on brain development and the economy.
• In providing grants for early learning facilities to be built, expanded and upgraded to serve more families across our state, especially in childcare deserts.”
• Early childhood development is a vital component of success throughout a person’s life, and access to high quality childcare has lasting positive effects on family, economic security and opportunity for both individuals and their families;

School Funding

• In providing a tuition-free, universal pre-k program for all children 3-5 years old to support equitable school readiness;
• Consistent with Article IX of our State Constitution and the Washington State Supreme Court, education is Washington State’s paramount duty, and the first priority is ample funding for the common schools.  We believe that public education, vested in the common schools, means fully funding local school districts that are governed by locally elected school boards. All efforts to privatize our schools including un-elected appointed school boards, vouchers, and other programs and policies that represent privatization efforts are inconsistent with our State’s Constitution and the intent of our founders.The full funding of education for all our children in our public schools without requiring school districts to propose regressive property tax funded bonds and levies is the paramount duty of the state per Article IV, Section 1, of the Washington State Constitution;
• That rural schools, schools with small tax bases, and schools with unusual numbers of special education or newcomer ELL students face special funding challenges that need attention;
• Funding must be used to support educational activities that further student learning and not used to test students beyond acquiring data needed to evaluate if the system is progressively moving students up the learning continuum.
• Funding extends beyond educators and administrators to include paraeducators and support staff such as councilors;
• Public funds should directly support public schools in Washington. Voucher schemes, tuition tax credits, or other financial tools that use tax monies to fund private schools or other educational programs or systems that undermine public education should be avoided.
• In the full funding of special education by both the state and federal governments so all public schools in Washington State are in full compliance with IDEA, FAPE, and ADA, respectively. 
• Public schools should be free of commercialization including corporate funding of programs and pre-K through grade 12 food sales;
• Free school food programs should be available throughout the year for all students, including breakfast and lunch, that meet or exceed state nutritional standards and support healthy habits and classroom learning, so that all students have an equal, stigma-free opportunity to succeed;
• That free breakfast and lunch school meals for all students support healthy habits and classroom learning in an equal, stigma-free environment;
• Plant-based options and alternatives to animal products in school meals should be available to meet all students’ dietary and ethical requirements
• All mandates from the judicial and legislative branches of state and federal governments should be fully funded, including district-specific full funding and support for students with disabilities who are mainstreamed with 504 Plans, Individual Education Plans, and/or who are identified as highly capable;
• In funding for high-quality,out-of-school-time programs, including before school, after school, and summer, to support working families and maintain school-year learning achievement;
• In school infrastructure being an equally as important part of the state constitutional paramount duty to fully fund education” including buildings, technology, capital projects like new roofs, heat systems, ventilation that meets OSHA Indoor Air Quality Standards), and when needed updating school buildings to green building practices; New school infrastructure should focus on green initiatives (energy efficiency, solar panels) funded by the state and federal government;

Curriculum

• Because research shows that one in five students miss school because of lack of clean clothes and when their schools have washers and dryers their attendance increased as much as 93%. Therefore, Washington public schools should be equipped with washers and dryers for the use of students’ families that need access to a washer and dryer for washing student school clothes.
• Education includes scientifically accurate academic, social-emotional, behavioral, and cultural supports for all learners;
• In promoting Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math education for all students, with special awareness and engagement for female and non-binary learners.
• In promoting access to education for all learners, establish and support  K-12 dual language to promote language and cultural learning for multilingual students and students whose first language is English, and K-12 newcomer programs. 
• In promoting civics and social studies education to develop a well-informed citizen electorate with including the experiences of  historically marginalized groups historical perspective;
• In promoting literature and arts education, which encourages empathy and understanding of the human condition, and supports the social and emotional learning needs of students.
• In promoting economic education to foster financial literacy and develop an understanding of the systems that impact livelihoods and society as a whole.;
• A foundation of civics and social studies, financial literacy and economics must be woven throughout our educational system in order to develop a well-informed citizen electorate with multi-ethnic historical perspective, including the Since Time Immemorial Curriculum
• Financial education should be added to the curriculum of K-12 schools.
• In promoting media literacy to encourage critical thinking skills and teach students to recognize and authenticate sources of information including A.I. and misinformation.
• Outdoor environmental education as mandated by Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction should be supported and expanded;
• Each school should have an adequate library, a qualified professional librarian, and books and materials reflecting a wide variety of beliefs and experiences, including voices of different races, gender identities, and other marginalized groups;

Restorative Justice / Discipline

• A course in Interpersonal Communications should be required for graduation, offered first in 9th grade, to equip students with the interpersonal communication tools needed for success in all domains of life.
• In all students’ First Amendment right to access of information, to read freely,to learn in a safe environment without fear of prejudice or censorship, as granted to them by the United States’ Constitution.
• Schools should be kept free of bullying and harassment and any other act of physical, emotional or sexual violence, by implementation of comprehensive anti-bullying campaigns with a focus on digital literacy to combat cyber-bullying.;
• School districts should be seeking curricula and instructional material that is diverse and inclusive, and should be supported in doing so with adequate funding;
• All schools should adopt discipline policies that conform with state law and with model policies to focus on restorative justice and supportive interventions for behavioral problems or substance abuse issues, instead of suspensions, punishments, or isolation; furthermore schools should be supported with resources and expert assistance for policy adoption and staff retraining;
• In ending regular police presence in schools via school resource officer (SRO) programs, as they criminalize typical student behavior and contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline, disproportionately impacting students of color;

Elections

• Elected school boards should solicit input, and openly work to include the input of the entire community they serve and actively represent their interests;
• Students should have a voice in local school boards;
• Educators should have a voice in their local school boards without fear of retaliation;
• School bonds and levies should only require a simple majority for passage;

Staffing

• In equitable funding of technical, vocational, 2 and 4 year colleges, especially with regards to pay at all levels (administration, faculty, classified staff), scope of work and employment contracts;

• In the importance of recruiting and retaining educators, especially those in underrepresented groups like people of color and marginalized groups;

• In mandatory mentoring programs for new educators in their first 3 years that includes release time for observations and feedback;

• In working with our labor union partners to ensure that all educators, including education support professionals, are receiving respectful, professional compensation and high quality benefits;