David Spring M. Ed. & Elizabeth Hanson M. Ed.
Washington Public Bank Coalition.org
WHEREAS the voters approved Initiative 1351 in 2014 to hire thousands of teachers to lower class sizes in Washington state; and
WHEREAS one excuse used by members of the State legislature to avoid hiring thousands of teachers was the lack of classrooms; and
WHEREAS over half of the schools in Washington state are more than 50 years old and do not comply with current earth quake code or health code standards: and
WHEREAS lack of compliance with earthquake & health code standards places the safety of one million students & their teachers at risk in the event of a mega quake; and
WHEREAS replacing these schools and building enough new schools to hire 10,000 additional teachers is estimated to cost between $30 to $50 billion; and
WHEREAS creating a public bank to finance building schools would greatly lower the cost of building schools – saving tax payers billions of dollars; and
WHEREAS the public bank and building schools would be paid for by repealing a tax break used by billionaires to avoid paying their fair share of state taxes; and
WHEREAS building one thousand new urgently needed public schools would also create more than 100,000 living wage jobs; and
WHEREAS the state-owned public Bank of North Dakota has for more than 90 years served to stabilize the economy and build schools for the people of North Dakota; and
WHEREAS thanks to its public bank, North Dakota has a $1 billion budget surplus and has the nation’s lowest unemployment rate at 3.4%; and
WHEREAS over the last decade, the Bank of North Dakota, in a state of 600,000 population, has provided a third of a billion dollars to the state’s general fund; and
WHEREAS having our own state bank would allow us to keep our money working here creating jobs in Washington State instead of being shipped out of state; and
WHEREAS having our own public bank would also produce revenue to improve funding for public schools and other essential state services; and
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that we call on the Washington State legislature to pass legislation to create a public bank here in Washington State.
Resolution passed by ___________________ on _______________________.
