I-884: the Education Trust Fund Initiative, will reduce class sizes, invest in quality teachers, and expand opportunities for students from preschool through K-12 and higher education. It will protect education funding with a dedicated Education Trust Fund for our children- with a built in firewall and citizen oversight to protect the Trust Fund from political and legislative meddling. Visit www.edtrustfund.org
We started the I-884 campaign blog with our student interns over the summer, but since school started they've either moved across the country or been overwhelmed with homework. So, I've started posting over there instead of here. To see my further thoughts on the I-884 campaign, check out our campaign blog
I received an interesting comment today, from a WSU-DDP student. I was surprised because we have so many students working with us to pass I-884 (including at WSU), and this student seems to be against it. He was concerned about high tuition costs...
Perhaps he doesn't know that I-884 creates desperately needed college scholarships and financial aid, as well as more spaces in college. Look at www.levfoundation.org or the Higher Education Coordinating Board to see how Washington State has decreased per-student education funding over the past 10 years. And Washington's student population has increased at the same time, which is what is pressuring universities and even community colleges to increase tuition.
UW's tuition is still far below its peer institutions in other states, but only because our state government subsidizes some of the cost and because UW's faculty is severely underpaid compared to their peers. When I was at UW last year I watched some of my own professors leave to go to other states where they had better opportunities.
I hope that we will be able to pass I-884, to help the financial struggles of this WSU student, and many others who want to be able to afford a quality education.
The campaign has had a lot of good news in the past month: We received confirmation that we are definitely on the November ballot, got back extremely positive polling results, raised $1.5 million so far, and started our regional grassroots strategy of having living room meetings in 15 areas of the state.
What is most amazing to me is how everyday citizens can make such a tremendous difference. We have some amazing volunteers who give big speeches with powerpoint to hundreds of people, but we also have volunteers that do what they can just to tell their friends and say a few things about I-884 at meetings they are already going to. Every little piece adds up, just like the thousands of people who mailed us one or two signatures each to get I-884 on the ballot. It's easy for someone to think their one signature won't make a difference, but I watched the stacks and stacks of petitions arrive, and I'm now a true believer that EVERY vote and EVERY signature counts.
We have held over 10 living room meetings so far in different parts of the state, and it's inspiring to see parents, preschool teachers, community college students, school board members, business leaders, school employees, and many others join together for this common cause. They live in the same town, but may not have even met each other before. Yet for an Education Trust Fund they will open their homes, tell their friends, write letters, and donate what they can.
If we get $5 to $50 from 10,000 people statewide, that could raise a substantial amount of money for the campaign - between $50,000 and $500,000!
So if you are reading this - think about what you can do, in just a few minutes, to help. Go to www.edtrustfund.org and
- Donate an amount significant to you
- sign up for I-884 emails
- tell your friends about why I-884 is important to you
- Add your name and/or business to a growing list of endorsements
If you hosted or attended one of our meetings - THANK YOU for all you are doing to create a quality education for every child in Washington State. Together, we can move mountains!
Headlines, Seattle PI on Friday July 16th, "UW No Longer Accepts Transfers." Wow. and coincidentally, that morning I was meeting with a group of 20 MESA students to talk about voter registration and civic involvement. MESA is Math, Engineering, Science Achievement - a program throughout Washington state to encourage and support minorities and women in science and engineering fields. I'm on the advisory board of Seattle MESA, and volunteer my time to help the program in whatever way I can.
It's close to my heart because my undergrad was electrical engineering at Stanford, a challenging and male dominated field. I loved the challenge and hated that I constantly felt the need to prove my abilities. and I was lucky to have had a quality K-12 education to prepare me for such a challenge. It made me think "what about the other kids who aren't so lucky?" So off I went into AmeriCorps, not long after graduating with my valuable EE degree, to ensure a level playing field. I've worked in nonprofit orgs ever since.
After creating tutoring programs, parent/school liaisons, language translation, and neighborhood leadership training, I-884 is the best way I know to create real education opportunities for ALL kids. Small, individual programs are great, but will not by themselves change the bigger picture that some kids get lucky enough to go to schools that have small classes, college expectations, and parental support, and some kids don't. I-884 is an opportunity for all of us to say YES to a quality education for all kids.
I asked the MESA students, all juniors in high school from around WA state, how many of them wanted to go to UW. Almost all raised their hands. None had read the headline that morning. All were interested in what they could do when they turn 18 and can vote, and even what they can do now in the meantime. Many asked to volunteer for I-884. Their hope is my inspiration. They deserve a chance to be Washington's next engineers, programmers, and scientists. They may end up designing electronic voting machines we can trust, or curing cancer, if we let them.
It's been one week since we turned in all the signatures to qualify the I-884 Education Initiative for the November ballot, and already we're getting people from all over the state emailing us to say they want to personally endorse the initiative. It's incredible! From Aberdeen to Zillah, we received petitions full of signatures in the mail, and now people who care about education want to make sure their name is associated with I-884.
We've gotten emails from superintendents, teachers, parents, business owners, preschool teachers, and everyday citizens, all pledging to do their part to make sure their friends and family members know about and support I-884. It is really heartening to see how many people truly care about education, and making sure education opportunities are available for all children, regardless of their family income or skin color.
I feel honored to be a part of this historic people's education initiative, and will work extremely hard to ensure that we will succeed.
To learn more about I-884 and how you can help, go to www.edtrustfund.org. We need to make sure everyone in Washington state knows how I-884 will create opportunities for their children and grandchildren, and how it will help boost Washington's economy and improve the future of our state.
On July 2, 2004, Citizens for the Education Trust Fund submitted over 327,000 signatures to the Secretary of State to qualify I-884 for the November ballot.
It was really exciting to load the endless boxes of petitions onto the big yellow school bus and then see them actually turned in to the Secretary of State. Governor Gary Locke, Terry Bergeson (Superintendent of Public Instruction), Jean Carpenter (WA State PTA) and Jeanne Anderson (Foundation for Early Learning) were in Olympia at the press conference, and Representatives Gutierrez-Kenney and Chopp were at the press conference we held in Seattle at our campaign headquarters. Students of all ages helped load the petitions, wave signs, and answer questions about I-884 in both Seattle and Olympia.
The Seattle PI took pictures of the students loading the petitions onto the bus. Click here to see the photo and article: photo and article
The Olympian also did a story with photos. Click here to see it: Olympian Article
Thank you so much to each of you who worked so hard to gather signatures. We made history yesterday, with the 4th largest number of signatures for an initiative ever in Washington State. Keep up to date on this initiative and how you can help at www.edtrustfund.org
