The surprising and growing opposition to Initiative 1351

It’s widely assumed that Initiative 1351, the ballot measure that purports to reduce class sizes, will pass by a wide margin.  The initiative title has bumper-sticker attractiveness, it faces no organized opposition, and executives at the powerful WEA and other unions are putting $3.5 million of their members’ dues money behind it. (In Washington, teachers must pay the union as a condition of employment.) 

Still, I’m hearing more and more people say they are going to vote against it.  There is definitely an organic word-of-mouth campaign against this initiative that seems to be gaining strength. Apparently, the more that people learn about Initiative 1351 the more uncomfortable they are with it. 

Online media, Facebook commentary, newspapers, radio and TV commentators are discussing the many problems this initiative will create for the legislature, for the McCleary decision, for taxpayers, for schools and for students in Washington’s public schools.  

Most surprisingly, a number of respected elected Democrats, Jamie Pedersen, Reuven Carlyle, Jeanne Kohl-Welles, Judy Clibborn, Tana Senn, Ross Hunter, have announced their opposition.  Governor Inslee, when asked (at 39:01), wouldn’t say he supports it.

Every major newspaper in the state is asking readers to vote “no” on Initiative 1351:

Even the left-leaning news site Publicola, based in the urban heart of Seattle, is against it.  It’s hard to imagine this range of editorial opinion agreeing so strongly on any other public issue.

Advocates for education and children are uncomfortable with Initiative 1351.  The League of Education Voters opposes it, as does the Association of Washington School Principals.  The progressive Children’s Alliance also opposes Initiative 1351.

It’s easy to understand why WEA union executives are so zealous about passing Initiative 1351.  They stand to gain $7.4 million a year in extra dues money if it passes.  But thinking people across the political spectrum who do not have a vested interest are expressing their doubts.

For a ballot measure that at first looked like a political slam-dunk, Initiative 1351 is meeting surprising and growing resistance.

Washington Policy Center has published an in-depth analysis of the problems in Initiative 1351, and how the WEA union would profit from it. Read it here.