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Join me in protecting school funding

04/21/2022
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Jeb Binns

Hello fellow educators!

My name is Jeb Binns. I’m a 20-year veteran high school social studies teacher and member of Highline EA. I’m writing to let you know about an initiative that was filed recently and may appear on the ballot this fall and to ask you to join me in declining to sign

I-1929 would cost our schools millions by repealing the capital gains tax we fought hard to pass last year. 

The capital gains tax is important for two reasons: 

  • It invests $500 million in education for early learning, child care, and K-12 schools. 
  • It is a critical step in balancing our upside-down tax code and making the wealthy pay their share. 

Some of the richest people in our state are bankrolling I-1929 because they want to avoid paying the capital gains tax and avoid paying their share of what they owe in taxes. 

It comes down to this: I-1929 is a tax cut for the super rich. It simply rolls back taxes on billions of dollars in profits the super-rich get from hedge funds and the stock market. And it does so at the expense of children, including our students. 

We need your help fighting it. Will you Decline to Sign I-1929?

When I teach my students about economics and civics, I highlight the best features of our state: we are the coffee capital of the world, the birthplace of modern commercial aviation, we have a thriving tech industry, our agricultural products are exported all over the world, our forests and mountains are legendary. But our current tax code? I don’t celebrate that.  It’s dead last when it comes to fairness. We ask those with the least to pay the most, while those who can afford it, pay the least. We are certainly not leading when it comes to state and local taxes.

The capital gains tax helps fix that. It is a solid step to address our upside-down tax code. And, importantly, it adds $500 million a year to the Education Legacy Trust.

As fellow educators, you know we desperately need these funds. The families of our students are counting on these early education and childcare opportunities.  Coming out of the pandemic, our kids need this support more than ever. Not only do they need to relearn how to “do school”, but we’re seeing students who desperately need mental and behavioral health support like never before. Teachers like us are doing all we can, but we alone can’t provide everything that our students need.  

I know you understand this: we simply can’t afford to cut $500 million in funding for kids and schools. And we certainly shouldn’t do it just for the rich who don’t want to pay a modest tax on their stock market windfalls. 

We’ve got to get our priorities straight: preschoolers, kids in elementary school, middle schoolers, and high school students like the ones I teach all deserve the best start we can give them. We’ve got to show that we care more about investing in them and their education than giving the wealthiest people in our state a tax break. 

Please, Decline to Sign Initiative 1929. For the sake of our kids, their families, and our schools.

Thanks!

Jeb

Posted in: Education funding
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