An initiative on Washington's November ballot could elevate lawmakers' budgetary headaches to the migraine category if voters approve it. The citizen-generated initiative would limit class sizes in Washington public schools and require the legislature to pay for additional teachers to accomplish the reduction of kids in classes.
But lawmakers are already under the gun to come up with more money for a series of education reforms under the state's high court McCleary decision.
The justices ruled unanimously that the state is not meeting its constitutional duty to adequately fund K through 12 education, meaning that there'll be a scramble in the next legislature to either raise more money or ax other state programs.
Some opponents of the class size initiative say it would amount to a hiring bonanza for teachers and other school support personnel and require spending more than 4-and-a-half billion new dollars by 2019.
One analyst said - "The question we want voters to ask themselves is, 'where is the money going to come from'?"
But state education chief Randy Dorn believes the initiative will have the greatest effect where it's needed most - with struggling students who don't get the attention they need now."
Initiative 1351 will allow local school districts to levy additional property taxes to help fund the smaller classes.