Our State is near the lowest in the nation in school funding. It would take $4 billion per year just to restore school funding to what it was in the 1980’s. As a consequence, our children are forced to attend extremely overcrowded schools. Yet in the past 14 years, our legislature has given away billions of dollars in tax exemptions to some of the richest corporations in the history of our planet. The following petition asks our legislature to roll back corporate tax exemptions to what they were in 1996 so that we can fund our public schools, save the jobs of thousands of teachers and protect the future of one million children. Closing tax loopholes for wealthy corporations will not harm these corporations as they can deduct their State taxes from their federal taxes. But it will protect the future of one million school children who are counting on us to provide them with a good education. Help us save our schools and protect the future of our children by signing the petition – and forwarding this page to your friends and family members and asking them to sign it too! 

Resolution to Roll Back Corporate Tax Exemptions to Restore School Funding: 

WHEREAS the Constitution of the State of Washington, Article IX, Education, Section 1 states, “It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders, without distinction or preference on account of race, color, caste, or sex” ; and  

WHEREAS our State Supreme Court ruled in January 2012 that the legislature has failed to comply with its constitutional obligation to fully fund our public schools and  

WHEREAS, our State has fallen from 11^th in the nation to 47^th in the nation in school funding as a percent of income and   

WHEREAS our children suffer from the third-most overcrowded classrooms in the United States; and  

WHEREAS firing thousands of teachers harms the future of one million school children and  

WHEREAS according to the 2008 Tax Exemption Report from the Washington State Department of Revenue, the cost of tax exemptions has risen from about $22 billion per year in 2000 to about $50 billion per year today and 

WHEREAS the majority of these tax exemptions benefit the most wealthy citizens in our State and  

WHEREAS, the legislature has already cut more than $2 billion in Education Funding in the past three years - while not a single penny has been cut in tax breaks for wealthy corporations; and  

WHEREAS continuing to give billions of dollars in tax exemptions to wealthy corporations while failing to adequately fund our public schools is contrary to our State Constitution, and harmful to the future of one million children,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that we, the undersigned, call on the Washington State Legislature to restore at least national average school funding by repealing ALL corporate tax exemptions enacted since 1996 (the last year that our State was above the national average in school funding).
 

Thank you for signing our petition and thank you for forwarding the link to this petition to your friends and family! Feel free to email me with questions or comments. To return to our Home Page, click on HOME in the Top Menu. 

Regards,

David Spring M. Ed.

springforschools@aol.com

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Thank you for signing our petition and thank you for forwarding the link to this petition to your friends and family! Feel free to email me with questions or comments. To return to the Home Page, click on HOME in the Top Menu.

Regards,

David Spring

springforschools@aol.com