Party Platform:

We believe that all children have a right to a quality education.

We recommend multiple metrics for high-stakes decisions in public education besides standardized testing in light of the following:

• There is a local and national tendency to rush toward standardized testing for high stakes decisions in public education, despite mounting evidence that standardized tests penalize students who are second-language speakers and from lower socioeconomic groups;
• The funds being spent to support these high-stakes standardized tests could more effectively go toward proven methods of effective learning, such as smaller class size.

We support:

• Establishing facilities and programs that advance vocational and technical education;
• Legislation for fully funding pre-school through grade 12 and technical education;
• Legislation that substantially funds public colleges, universities, and technical schools;
• Legislation that lowers the interest rate on student loans and finds ways to relieve the financial stress of college students and graduates burdened with huge student debt;
• Legislation that will finance the McCleary decision to Washington State schools and fully fund
• 149 basic education