Initiative 1351 surprise

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Joe Copeland

Joe Copeland Feb 6, 2018

Feb 6, 2018

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                <h1>Initiative 1351 surprise</h1>
                <h2><p>In north Seattle, the ultra-liberal 43rd District Democrats have declined to endorse Initiative 1351, a teachers union-backed measure that would mandate smaller class sizes, according to Publicola. In fact, the report says, the D's at the Tuesday night gathering came close to recommending a no vote on the</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/joe-copeland-crosscut-com/">Joe Copeland</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
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            <p>In north Seattle, the ultra-liberal 43rd District Democrats have declined to endorse <a href="http://www.sos.wa.gov/elections/initiatives/Initiatives.aspx?y=2014&t=p&ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">Initiative 1351</a>, a teachers union-backed measure that would mandate smaller class sizes, <a href="http://www.seattlemet.com/news-and-profiles/publicola/articles/report-tunnel-tops-list-of-highway-boondoggles-september-2014?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">according to Publicola</a>. In fact, the report says, the D's at the Tuesday night gathering came close to recommending a no vote on the measure, which is on the fall general election ballot. Liberal Democratic Rep. Jamie Pedersen warned that passage of the measure could add $1 billion to the perhaps $4.5 billion the Legislature must find in coming years to comply with a state Supreme Court decision on education funding. (The initiative contains no funding to pay for the added teachers needed to reduce class sizes.) Just a guess: The I-1351 failure will set off furious efforts to get an endorsement from the district later, or a union attempt to punish Pedersen. Or both.  — J.C.</p>
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In north Seattle, the ultra-liberal 43rd District Democrats have declined to endorse Initiative 1351, a teachers union-backed measure that would mandate smaller class sizes, according to Publicola. In fact, the report says, the D's at the Tuesday night gathering came close to recommending a no vote on the measure, which is on the fall general election ballot. Liberal Democratic Rep. Jamie Pedersen warned that passage of the measure could add $1 billion to the perhaps $4.5 billion the Legislature must find in coming years to comply with a state Supreme Court decision on education funding. (The initiative contains no funding to pay for the added teachers needed to reduce class sizes.) Just a guess: The I-1351 failure will set off furious efforts to get an endorsement from the district later, or a union attempt to punish Pedersen. Or both. — J.C.

By Joe Copeland

Joe Copeland is the former senior editor&nbsp;for Crosscut, where he has been an editor since 2010. Before that, he was an editorial writer and columnist for the Seattle P-I and editorial page edi