Esther. She’s 99 years old and is hitting the streets to collect signatures in order to get initiative 1098 on this November’s ballot.

Here’s why. Due to recession, Washington’s been cutting back funding for education. Slowly but surely its taking its toll on our schools—class sizes are going up, sports and extracurricular fees are increasing, electives are disappearing, and we don’t have the money to replace textbooks. Not to mention, statewide college tuition is rising and programs to help subsidize students are diminishing.

1098 would create a new and steady funding source for public education.

What’s 1098? It’s a revenue-generating initiative that would tax Washington’s top income earners. That means that if you make over $200,000 dollars a year, you’re getting an additional tax on your income. And guess what, that only applies to 3% of Washington’s population.

In addition to taxing our state’s high-earners, this initiative will cut property tax by 20% and eliminate the Business and Occupation (B&O) tax for 375,000 small businesses. This means tax breaks for more local businesses.

Back to Esther. How incredible is this woman? If you’re 18, sign up here to get the initiative on the November ballot.  If you’re not 18 and want to help out, e-mail me! We’ll be out on the streets, just like Esther, making sure Washington can approve I-1098 this fall.

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State lawmakers are considering budget cuts that will impact thousands of college and university students across the state. LEV, the Washington Student Association and the Washington Bus are working together to urge parents and students to contact their legislators.

Watch the video of two UW students, Ashwaq and Colette, as they share their struggles with college affordability and then contact your lawmakers to urge them to protect funding for higher education. Please tell them how you, your friends, your kids and your relatives rely on Washington’s State Need Grants and/or Work Study programs in order to attend and complete college.

You may have heard that tomorrow is a national day of action on college campuses across the country. Look for rallies on the UW, Western Washington, Evergreen State College, and Seattle Community college campuses!

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It’s March 2^nd. There are 10 days left in Washington’s 2010 legislative session. Guess what that means? It’s CRUNCH TIME, still. Just like yesterday. This week in Oly, legislators are tackling some big issues related to our state’s budget deficit (refresher, we’re 2.8 billion dollars in the hole). Plenty of programs have been proposed for cuts—and too many of these programs hurt the pockets of students.

One (of several) programs that are at-risk this session is Work Study. These are part-time jobs for students on campus which help the university fill necessary positions, help the student earn some extra cash, and help our economy by graduating students with real work experience.

Governor Gregoire has proposed to cut Washington’s ENTIRE work study program. Both the Senate and House have proposed to cut this vital program by at least $7.4 million dollars.

Here’s why Washington can’t afford to cut work study:

Work study programs provide part-time jobs to 9,400 students across the state, at 55 different campuses

For these 9,400 students, their annual earnings make up about 15% of their average financial aid package.

Work study jobs, on average, help fund $3,000-4,000 dollars of tuition per student, per year.

Can you imagine what it would take to make up for that missing money? If you think Work Study is as vital a program as we do, e-mail your legislators today and tell them to FULLY FUND Washington’s Work Study program. Let’s see some new revenue, too!

Speaker of the House:

Frank Chopp: chopp.frank@leg.wa.gov

Senate Ways and Means Committee Leadership (who delegate the ca$h)

Margarita Prentice: prentice.margarita@leg.wa.gov

Rodney Tom: tom.rodney@leg.wa.gov

Karen Fraser: fraser.karen@leg.wa.gov

House Ways and Means Committee Leadership

Kelli Linville: linville.kelli@leg.wa.gov

Mark Ericks: ericks.mark@leg.wa.gov

Pat Sullivan: sullivan.pat@leg.wa.gov

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Washington State Legislature is in the final stretch! It’s been a tough session so far, with lots of proposed cuts to crucial education programs. It’s crunch time now, our legislators and leadership need to hear from us now more than ever.

About what, you say? State Need-Based Grants. thasswassup.

The House has proposed to cut Washington’s need-based grants by $6 million. The Senate has committed to keeping them, but has made funding for these grants contingent on Washington passing new sales taxes. These are small taxes on consumer goods which are likely to fail because they are unpopular. This is unacceptable. Washington’s legislators MUST prioritize funding for need-based grants. Here’s why:

-Washington State has over 73,000 college students receiving some form of need-based grant or work study money, which is roughly 2/3rds of all students across the state.
-34% of money awarded through state need-based grants are given to students of color.
-Without these crucial grants and low-interest loans, students will be forced to take on more debt from private banks, work more hours, or drop-out of college.

Washington Student Association cooked up a recipe that gives you all the facts on need-based grants. Study up on the ingredients, then e-mail your representatives today and tell them to FULLY FUND state need grants and support a budget this session that includes NEW REVENUE.

Here are your key representatives:

Speaker of the House:
Frank Chopp: chopp.frank@leg.wa.gov

Senate Ways and Means Committee Leadership (who delegate the ca$h)
Margarita Prentice: prentice.margarita@leg.wa.gov
Rodney Tom: tom.rodney@leg.wa.gov
Karen Fraser: fraser.karen@leg.wa.gov

House Ways and Means Committee Leadership
Kelli Linville: linville.kelli@leg.wa.gov
Mark Ericks: ericks.mark@leg.wa.gov
Pat Sullivan: sullivan.pat@leg.wa.gov

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The House and the Senate released their proposed budgets for this session. With Washington’s 2.8 billion dollar deficit, we expected cuts. What did grandpa used to say after all? oh that’s right, “money doesn’t grow on trees.”

Thanks, grandpa.

Here are a few lowlights from the budget cuts, but if you want to read about all the education programs that have been reduced or cut, check out this one here.

Proposed cuts from the House budget would:

-Reduce work study programs by 7.7 million dollars
-Eliminate Navigation 101, money that goes towards career and college counseling services for students in 6^th-12^th grade
-Prohibit any more spending on state need grants (current recipients still get their funds, but nobody new next year)

Proposed cuts from the Senate budget would:

-Reduce work study programs by 7.4 million dollars
-Take away 103 million dollars from Kindergarten through 4^th grade classrooms, meaning bigger class sizes and fewer teachers
-Cut college campuses across the state by 6%– regardless of whether they are a 2 year or 4 year campus. This will create disproportionate affects for our State’s higher education institutions

Money may not grow on trees, but we can definitely do something about these missing dollars. We can generate new statewide revenue. Both the House and Senate budgets proposed ways to close tax loopholes and increase minor sales taxes, but it won’t be nearly enough to fill the gaps.

Jim Dawson of Fuse puts it plainly, “you’re looking at about $4 in cuts to every $1 in new revenue sources. The package is not big enough.”

Click here to find and tell your legislators to protect funding for these critical programs.

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John, a senior at Skyline High School in Sammamish

On Monday, LEV took a whole busload of students from around the state down to our state’s capital for a crash course in education advocacy.

Aside from free t-shirts and pizza (a good thing on any day), we also had the opportunity to get together with other students from their legislative districts and brainstorm some message points to deliver to our legislators. We even took part in the gargantuan Rally for Our Future on the steps of the Capitol building, along with 4,000 other like-minded students and citizens, and heard the personal stories of people from all over the state who demonstrated the need for new revenue and the ramifications of cutting funding for education and human services.

Maria and Jesus, who attend Health Sciences and Human Services High School in White Center, rallied to protect funding for kids, schools and human services.

The day culminated in an EPIC scavenger hunt around the capitol, where the student-advocates delivered their notes to their legislators, busted out dance moves on the floor of the rotunda in the Legislative Building, and had the opportunity to sit in on the debates on the House and Senate floors.

Parents brought their kids to Olympia to remind legislators who are impacted by state budget cuts.

It was pretty incredible to be able to see some of the inner cogs and gears of our government (supposedly) working hard on…something. It was also a pretty venue for students to express their opinions on the issues.

Jesus Robles, a junior at Health Sciences and Human Services High School in White Center, was one of a handful of students who stated their beef directly in a video testimony: “My favorite part was being interviewed over the issues in my school and sending the letters to the representatives and senators,” he says.

All in all, LEV gave over 40 students the opportunity to take a direct role in their government and gain some experience in working directly with their representatives.

We met with Sen. Margarita Prentice's legislative aide, Beau Perschbacher, to talk about how budget cuts could impact their schools.

“It was really exciting to express our concerns to the people who are making the decisions,” says Bill Dow, a freshman at the University of Washington, who had the opportunity to sit down with an aide from his state Senator’s office. He adds, “And I want to get marble installed in my dorm room.” (Marble is a pretty constant feature at the capitol-and yes, that includes the bathrooms.)

Experiences like this demonstrate the ease with which concerned students and constituents can see first-hand how their state is being governed, and convey their concerns to their representatives. It was a first time for me, and I was amazed at how we could simply walk into the offices of our representatives and senators and deliver them a note with our views, or pull them out of the chamber to talk with them directly. I mean, how cool is that?!

The answer, of course, is very, very cool.

We left Olympia with a better understanding of how our state is governed and how easy it is to convey our concerns to our elected officials.

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If you missed this opinion editorial last Friday in the Tacoma News Tribune by President Ronald Thomas (University of Puget Sound) and President Loren Anderson (Pacific Lutheran University), check it out now!

Included in this piece is the answer to why Washington, even though we’re facing a 2.6 billion dollar deficit this session, can’t afford to cut need-based grants and work study programs.

Wait a second—everybody out there—I’m pretty sure young people have been saying this since day one? Shout out to university presidents for having our back!

What makes this opinion piece so compelling is that it frames this discussion of college affordability as an issue that impacts everyone, “What our legislators decide will affect not only these students, but ultimately the future prosperity of our state. It will affect us all.”

Presidents Thomas and Anderson also opted for a timeless sports metaphor in describing how state work-study programs benefit all of society, by naming the program “a true triple play.” It helps students make some extra income, it helps universities by filling necessary positions, and it benefits local businesses because students graduate with a lil something on their resume (making them more employable). Heck yes.

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Because League of Education Voters is celebrating and honoring democracy in a very serious way. We’re participating in it (whoooaa).  Instead of spending your first Monday of mid-winter break sleeping in and having breakfast in bed (orange juice toast to our past presidents)… you should come to Olympia with us for an action-packed day of democracy.

We’ll be meeting up in Olympia with our friends at the Children’s Alliance for:

• Advocacy and Activism 101
• identifying the issues (i.e. why you should care!)
• lunch
• RALLY AT THE CAPITOL
• and then an Epic Photo Scavenger Hunt.

Oh what, you haven’t heard about the rally yet? Well, it’s going to be pretty big. Children’s Alliance will be in the house, LEV will be in the house, the Bus, Young Democrats, Washington Student Association, Fuse, the Win-Win network… All in the house.

We’re all gathering in support of Washington State bringing in some new revenue this year. You know why? Because Washington’s broke and that means they are cutting funding to our education system. While we’re fighting to keep those cuts to a minimum, we’re also fighting to make sure Washington is getting creative with how they bring in the dough (because we need to do both!)

See, democracy can be fun. Free scenic bus tour down the I-5 corridor, free lunch, a giant rally on the steps of the capitol, and a photo scavenger hunt?

You may also learn a lil bit about the state you live in… (not a guarantee though, the learning curve is different for everyone!!)

send me an email (Maggie@educationvoters.org) if you are interested. I’ll put your name on the list, we’ll let you on the bus and get you some grub.

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1) Obama stated his commitment to making community colleges across the country more affordable

2) the Bus held Olympia in a Can (part 1 of 3)!

The first three weeks of the legislative session have been a whirlwind of topics: the budget, pre-kindergarten, the budget, race to the top, umm the budget, new revenue sources, and did I mention that people are concerned about Washington’s budget? Not so much a ‘whirlwind of topics’ … maybe more of a black hole, actually.

Amidst the furor over our 2.6 billion dollar deficit, Washington students must know one thing.  State need-grants and work study money for two and four year students are on the chopping block.

This was the hot topic last night at Grey Gallery and Lounge, where over 100 young people convened with the Bus, LEV, WSA, and UAW Local 4121 to hear and discuss how this session will affect campuses across Washington.

A few, key facts:

Washington State has over 83,000 college students receiving some form of need-based grant or work study money.

83,000 is more than a sold out Seahawks game at Qwest Field and roughly 2/3rds of all students across the state!

Cutting the state-need grant would entirely eliminate funding for 12,300 students and reduce (by more than half) the awards for 57,000 other students.

Nobody likes the idea of students taking out private loans to pay for their education-except the banks.

Check out Washington Student Association’s calendar for days of action in February and stay posted to League of Education Voters’ student Facebook page for updates on how young people can stay involved in this year’s legislative session.

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Look no further. Friends at the Washington Bus are hosting tonight! It’s called ‘Olympia in a Can‘ and yes, there will be Obama. There will be Olympia in a can. There will be legislators’ faces projected on the wall. There will be a rich and lively discussion on Washington’s budget, financial aide cuts for college students, new revenue, and how it all effects STUDENTS.

Don’t miss it!

6-8pm at Grey Gallery and Lounge 1512 11th Ave

for more details, check out hella.bus.

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