WEA-RA 2012 DAY 2

We are plugging away! So far this morning, we have heard a speech from Mary Lindquist urging members to keep up the fight against bad reforms and union busters. She particularly urged us to fight over the next 173 days to get Jay Inslee elected as Governor. This will be a long battle, but it is necessary keep Rob McKenna out of office as he is very anti-union and, more importantly, anti-WEA. We debated Constitution Amendment No. 1 that changes the terms of office for President and Vice President from the current three 2 year terms to two 3 year terms. This was pretty exciting as we had our friends from Bellevue, Stephen and Michelle Miller argue to oppose this amendment, while our very own David Aaby got up to urge a vote of support. The vote will be held tomorrow morning by secret ballot. We are currently debating Bylaw Amendment No. 2. This amendment will assign a special assessment of $1.00 a month for the next 6 years. The amendment will raise roughly $850,000 a year, and $5.1 million for the duration of the assessment. The purpose of the assessment is to continue the fight to force the state to fully fund basic education in accordance with the McCleary (NEWS) lawsuit. This is a tricky issue. We just learned that in addition to the money that was raised during the last assessment, and money that was granted to WEA from NEA, WEA spent an additional $4.1 million to get us through the lawsuit. Money is always a difficult decision. We are looking for feedback. How do you feel Tahoma? Would you support paying another $1.00 a month to help continue this fight, or do you feel we have paid too much as it is? Your delegates would appreciate any input you can give.