I never thought I would vote against a school issue, but I will vote no on Initiative I-1351.

My reading of the State of Washington Voter’s Pamphlet gives me great pause.

The brief description states: “This measure would direct the legislature to allocate funds to reduce class sizes and increase staffing support for students in all K-12 grades, with additional class-size reductions and staffing increases in high-poverty schools.”

This is misleading at best. It sounds as if the primary purpose of I-1351 is to reduce class sizes. I support that goal, but (unless I am misreading the State of Washington Voter’s Pamphlet, Table 2.2 New Staff and Related Costs for Implementing I-1351 on Sept. 1, 2018, on page 14) the primary purpose is not class size reduction. It is increasing the number of non-teaching staff in the school system.

Table 2.2 indicates that increases in full-time equivalent state-funded positions for school year 2018-19 amount to 7,453 additional teachers to meet class-size changes, 17,081 additional school-based staff and 1,027 additional district/central staff.

Do we really want to ask the Legislature to find funds to pay for a total of 18,108 non-teachers to support 7,453 classroom teachers? That is a ratio of 2.4 non-teachers for each added classroom teacher.

The Legislature will have problems enough trying to meet the requirements of the Washington State Supreme Court’s McCleary decision without having to also meet the requirements of I-1351.

I say vote no, and let the Legislature do its job.

— Melvin Mackey