Don’t Roll Back Our Future. Oppose SB 6347
Students across Washington State collectively respond to proposals to weaken education funding
By Lac Tran, Odessa Paule, Tessa St. Prix, Jolina Nguyen, Towa Nakano-Harris Sofia Chu, Emma Shampain, Afifah Chau, Kylie Ongg and Qes McCord
Hannah Lindell-Smith of the Washington Bus speaks at the Power Building Table's media event in support of a Millionaires' Tax. She stands at a podium next to a long list of corporation profits.
This week, Washington State lawmakers are considering legislation to roll back last year's increases to the estate tax; a revenue source that is a major funder of the education legacy trust account. When lawmakers passed this funding expansion last year, it was a promise to us: That our classrooms, counselors, childcare programs, and financial aid would be protected.
Now it seems that we are debating whether to take that promise away. To take these programs away from our hands, and back into the wealthiest in our state. We’ve seen what happens when lawmakers prioritize tax breaks over our education because we are living that reality today.
Our class sizes are over 40 students because our schools don’t have enough teachers to support us. Our counselors are stretched too thin to meet the needs of every student. Many of us are no longer considering a 4-year university as a realistic option because of cuts to financial aid, and some are even dropping out because higher education is no longer affordable. We’ve stretched our schools to a breaking point, and lawmakers are asking them to support us, while the tools they need to do so are being taken away from them every year.
We, as students across Washington State, demand that our legislators no longer use our futures as a bargaining chip with the wealthiest in our state.
We demand that they protect programs that make our learning possible: classrooms that can accommodate us, counselors who have time to guide us, financial aid so that we can afford higher education, and childcare, so our parents can work while we learn.
Let us be clear. The state of education is in a much different place than it was last year. Trump’s H.R. 1 (Big Beautiful Bill) austerity budget has starved schools out of the resources they desperately rely on, cutting support and funding for public schools across our nation, cutting financial aid, so that higher education is unattainable for so many students, and dismantling the U.S. Department of Education, stripping away very institutions that were designed to support us.
Lac Tran, Treveon Parish, and Hannah Lindell-Smith testify in the House Finance Committee on a public hearing on Rep. Shaun Scott's Well Washington Fund (HB 2100)
In this moment, we need a state legislature that stands up, and prioritizes the aspirations and dreams of young people and their education despite attacks from the federal level. Unfortunately, this is not a legislature that is determined to do so. Bills introduced this session like Rep. Shaun Scott's Well Washington Fund (HB 2100) which would have expanded, and protected funding specifically for education and social programs have been stalled in committee. While bills that would support us have been stalled, the legislature has been eager to advance bills like SB 6347 to keep giving tax cuts to the wealthiest in our state at our expense.
Washington State lawmakers have a long way to go to protect funding for education, but today, we urge them to oppose SB 6347, to keep what funding remains of our schools into them rather than using it as a bargaining chip for the wealthy. Because as students in this state, we live, and we recognize every teacher cut from our schools, every counselor we aren’t able to meet with, and every financial aid package that makes us realize that higher education is unattainable.
We as students across Washington State say: Oppose revenue cuts to education. Oppose SB 6347
Lac Tran is a Senior at Evergreen High School and co-founded Salmon in the Schools there. He lives in White Center
Odessa Paule is a Senior at Renton High School and the founder of Renton Student Union. They live in Renton
Tessa St. Prix is a Sophomore at University High School. They live in Spokane Valley
Jolina Nguyen is a Senior at Eastlake High School. They live in Sammamish
Towa Nakano-Harris is a Junior at the University of Washington studying history. She is from Enumclaw
Sofia Chu is a Senior at Juanita High School. They live in Kirkland
Emma Shampain is a Junior at Vashon Island High School. She lives in West Seattle
Afifah Chau is a Freshman at the University of Washington studying American Ethnic Studies, and Earth and Space Sciences. They live in White Center
Kylie Ongg is a junior at Hazen High School. They live in Renton
Qes McCord is a Senior and the president of Evergreen High School’s Black Student Union. They live in Seattle
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