Washington’s Legislature reconvened last week with a gamut of issues to address — many of them the same as past years. Writing the next biennial budget will be a challenge, as agreeing on anything has been a challenge in Olympia, where Republicans control the senate and Democrats control the house. But decisions made this legislative session will have ripple effects across the state, including on Vashon. At risk of sounding like a broken record, it’s clear that lawmakers have got to find some compromise and be open to tax reform and new taxes, the only way they’re going to address our state’s biggest failings this year.

First, this is the year lawmakers must designate more funding for schools, both because the state Supreme court has mandated it and because voters demanded it in the class-size measure that passed last fall. Vashon schools have been displeased to see state funding fall behind, but luckily we have been able tap our own community to maintain strong schools. Other communities haven’t been as fortunate. In one of the most progressive states in the country, a state that’s home to Microsoft and other big tech companies, there’s no reason we should fall short when it comes to education. A carbon tax for schools has been proposed, something Republicans not surprisingly take issue with. Perhaps they can come up with a better alternative.

Transportation in our state is also in crisis, an issue that particularly affects Vashon. While the state Supreme Court hasn’t called it a constitutional violation, our ferries and roads are running into the red with no help in sight. As an island community, we face rising prices for ferry tickets and a future with no new boats unless lawmakers find a fix. While early reforms made by the new ferries director are encouraging, losses in tax revenue put us in this situation, and only new revenue can pull us out.

Finally, there’s a new issue to be waded through in Olympia. Now that a system for legally growing and selling marijuana is in place, the state must do something about medical marijuana, a system that by comparison is extremely unregulated. Medical pot is also competing with our new state-licensed businesses — there’s one here on Vashon — and making it harder for the new system to get off the ground. It’s hard to know whether adding greater regulations to medical marijuana or simply folding the two systems into one is a better solution — both have been proposed. Sen. Sharon Nelson, who lives on Vashon, called this new territory the “wild, wild West” in a recent press conference. Whatever the answer, it should be one that brings more customers into legal shops where they’ll generate revenue badly needed by the state.