David Spring M. Ed. & Elizabeth Hanson M. Ed. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Washington Public Bank Coalition.org
WHEREAS the voters approved Initiative 1351 in 2014 to hire thousands of teachers to lower class sizes in Washington state; and
WHEREAS one excuse used by members of the State legislature to avoid hiring thousands of teachers was the lack of classrooms; and
WHEREAS over half of the schools in Washington state are more than 50 years old and do not comply with current earth quake code or health code standards: and
WHEREAS lack of compliance with earthquake & health code standards places the safety of one million students & their teachers at risk in the event of a mega quake; and
WHEREAS replacing these schools and building enough new schools to hire 10,000 additional teachers is estimated to cost between $30 to $50 billion; and
WHEREAS creating a public bank to finance building schools would greatly lower the cost of building schools – saving tax payers billions of dollars; and
WHEREAS the public bank and building schools would be paid for by repealing a tax break used by billionaires to avoid paying their fair share of state taxes; and
WHEREAS building one thousand new urgently needed public schools would also create more than 100,000 living wage jobs; and
WHEREAS the state-owned public Bank of North Dakota has for more than 90 years served to stabilize the economy and build schools for the people of North Dakota; and
WHEREAS thanks to its public bank, North Dakota has a $1 billion budget surplus and has the nation’s lowest unemployment rate at 3.4%; and
WHEREAS over the last decade, the Bank of North Dakota, in a state of 600,000 population, has provided a third of a billion dollars to the state’s general fund; and
WHEREAS having our own state bank would allow us to keep our money working here creating jobs in Washington State instead of being shipped out of state; and
WHEREAS having our own public bank would also produce revenue to improve funding for public schools and other essential state services; and
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that we call on the Washington State legislature to pass legislation to create a public bank here in Washington State.
Resolution passed by ___________________ on _______________________.
