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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David Yang, Ken Peterson, Gerald Kitsis, Maggie Wilkens, Lydia Lee, Leah Johnson

On January 13th, four of us (Juniors and Seniors from Mercer Island High School) went to Tumwater to sit in on a Washington State Board of Education meeting. We listened to the board discuss high school graduation rates in Washington compared to other states, standardized testing, and the importance of focusing more on science and math in a child’s education.

The board also talked about CORE 24, which is what we came to talk about during public comment. During our speeches we emphasized the importance of CORE 24 and argued that with the proper support, all students in Washington are capable of meeting the 24-credit graduation requirement. We also asked our state board representatives to be leaders in this field, that with their support, students all over Washington can achieve. We shared our personal stories and our views on senior’s culminating project (mostly that we don’t like it). The board members were really appreciative of our presence. It seemed like they usually make their decisions based solely on statistics, so hearing the opinions of current high school students was a good change of pace and will hopefully impact their final decisions concerning CORE 24 and the culminating project.

-Leah Johnson, Senior, Mercer Island High School

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Seattle, are you wondering why you got a ballot in the mail last week? Well, you don’t even have to live in Seattle to have gotten a ballot last week. There are school districts all across Washington state that are doing the same thing Seattle is come February 9th– they are renewing their levies.

Let’s take it back one-step. What’s a levy?

Levies are like loans. Big ones. These are long and short-term chunks o’ change that school districts take out from the constituents in their district to pay for a variety of projects. In most cases, they fund the essentials: textbooks, computers, and things like bathroom tile. In Seattle, they fund those things AND more. Seattle levies fund the entire 6th period of the school day. So… yeah. Kind of a big deal.

Guest blogger Rocio will be keeping us updated on the status of the Seattle Levy campaign (a campaign which she, and 25 other UW students are kindly spending their volunteer hours on). You can read her first post here.

If you weren’t sold earlier on how important it is to renew these two crucial levies, I’ll let you in on a little secret. Seattle has already passed these levies before. We are just renewing them again, as we do every 2-3 years. Also, the ca$h that comes in from the BTA II and the Operations levy make up 23% of the school districts annual budget.

AND. Mayor Mike McGinn said so. So do it. Vote yes, renew the levies.

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Professor Holly Barker, of the UW Anthropology Department, has done it again! She has come up with yet another creative way for students to learn about the empowering work of Anthropology – not by studying an endless stream of theories but by going out into the community and helping to make a difference.

This winter quarter, 26 Applied Anthropology students will be volunteering at Schools First, in partnership with the League of Education Voters, to help get the vote out for the Seattle School Levies (on the ballot February 9^th – make sure that you exercise your right to be counted)!

Just so you know who we – the UW anthro students – are… we are taking part in a workshop class that considers the practical applications of anthropology’s methods and theories to the challenges and research needs of communities and organizations. Our class this quarter will concentrate specifically on the applications of anthropology in education, particularly in educational policy. What are the needs of our public education system? What can citizens do about it? Do policymakers consider the perspectives of young people? Students will monitor and critique current public policy efforts to address the needs of the public schools in Seattle and Washington State. We’re also the ones that get really excited about finding arrowheads in the UW gardens or have chocolate all over our hands from flint-knapping…

But who are these other players involved in this election? Well let me tell you.

Schools First is the campaign organization that works to help pass Seattle School levies. It’s a grassroots, citizen-based organization founded in 1995. Their primary mission is to inform voters about upcoming school levies and to direct efforts toward ensuring their passage.

Then there is (us) the League of Education Voters—who work to improve Washington’s public schools through a grassroots statewide network of advocates.

The last part of this team helping to renew the 2010 levies is you! The voters within the Seattle School District. Look for the ballot on February 9, 2010 to replace two expiring levies for schools.

What’s on the ballot, this Feb. 9^th?

One is a Three-Year Operations Levy that is needed because State and federal funding do not cover the basic needs of high quality education that our children deserve. Seattle school levies fund 23% of the Seattle Public schools operating budget for teachers, librarians, counselors, textbooks, and bilingual & special education specialists.

The second is a Six-Year Capital Levy that replaces an expiring one and provides hundreds of important safety health and maintenance improvements and academic and technology updates to our Seattle schools and grounds.

So there you have all the facts. Students helping people who are helping students!

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We are pondering big things at the LEV office this week so you don’t have to.

What else is on our minds, you ask? Well, we’re helping track bills related to high school and higher education throughout Washington State’s leg session too.

Before we get ahead of ourselves though, let’s take a minute to remember how this whole “bill” process works. Who is Bill anyway?  Below are two handy graphics put together by the state legislature.

These images are a little intense, I know, so  if you are looking for something slightly less involved, check out the original School House Rock video “How a Bill Becomes a Law.” It’s a timeless classic. Not to mention, hilarious.

And because I can’t get enough of animated pieces of legislation explaining the span of their existence—check out this guy too.

Stay tuned, more information on legislation coming up.

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The title says it all… What will universities and community colleges across Washington do to cope with this session’s ominous budget cuts? A recent poll of UWers suggests some interesting student perspectives on the issue.

Primarily, UW students do not want the quality of their education to decrease given our State’s budget deficit. The survey results beg the question, “Are students willing to pay more tuition to maintain their current level of excellence?” and when you put it that way, then yes, it appears as though they are.

With Washington facing a 2.6 billion dollar deficit, we’re going to see some cuts to higher ed. In fact, it would appear inevitable. But does that have to mean higher tuition? It seems like UW students have a few of their own suggestions about where that money should come from. For the full report, check it out on Publicola.

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Looks like we have a confirmation that Rep. Derek Kilmer will present legislation this session proposing 4-year institutions get the O-K to raise tuition…

Read the full article here at Seattle Times.

Currently, the state legislators set our public institutions’ tuition cap. This legislation would hand that control over to state universities and community colleges to set their own tuition. A draft of Rep. Kilmer’s legislation caps tuition increases at 14% per year, with a 10% maximum increase over the span of the next two years.

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Yesterday, Christina Rocks from Washington Student Association and I (Maggie), spent the day traveling up the coast to visit the campus of Western Washington University. Besides wanting to catch beautifully obstructed views of the mountains (clouds, fog, rain, large trees), we roadtripped north to talk to WWU students about what Washington’s budget crisis will mean for their education.

The run-down…

We’re in a budget crunch. About 2.6 billion in deficit, actually. Annnnnnnd, the governor and our legislators have been tasked with the tough job of cutting back spending– in a very serious way. On the chopping block is state funding of need-based financial aide and work study grants. These cuts would affect almost 83,000 students (about 2/3rds of Washington’s 4-year students).

Also on the table for discussion? Allowing state universities to raise their tuition– up to 14%.

If some of you are thinking this sounds like déjà-vu from last year’s session, you are partially right. It partially is. Last year, UW raised its tuition 14%. Why 14?  Because 14 divided by 2 is the most magical number known to the wizarding community.

But I digress. If you want to hear what WWU students had to say, here ya go:

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The Soapbox is an off-shoot of the League of Education Voters. We post all things relevant to organizing the masses of young people in support of excellent, statewide education. GET EXCITED.

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