Resolution to co-sponsor an Education Funding Forum

August 21, 2025

WHEREAS public school is a social contract considered to be the bedrock of a free democratic civil society, and

WHEREAS the new wave of unprecedented federal attacks on students furthest from educational justice, on our public sector unions and on working families who rely on school to be an inclusive, safe place for their children to learn and grow hurts everyone, and 

WHEREAS education workers face escalating challenges such as budget constraints, staffing shortages, unmet student needs, and overwhelming workload expectations, even though Washington state has the strongest constitutional language in the nation that it is ‘the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children’, and

WHEREAS our state has the second-highest union density, we also have the second-most regressive tax structure nationwide, exacerbating the undue burden on working families to generate the revenue necessary to fully fund public education; and

WHEREAS educators have a special responsibility to advocate for a just education for all of our students, and organized labor plays a critical role in the success of those efforts, and 

WHEREAS reliance on local and federal funding to fund our educational model is unsustainable, creates instability for our families, deepens inequities in our communities, it still can be fixed through a sustainable and progressive statewide tax system; and

WHEREAS American Federation of Teachers (AFT-WA), Balance Our Tax Code (BOTC), Education Association members and other community and labor partners are bringing working families, organized labor, legislators and school board members together to talk about the progressive revenue needed to fund out schools and other needed public services on September 20th at the Education Funding Forum;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the MLK Labor Council will sign on as a co-sponsor of this town hall to support our efforts to build the political will needed to fully fund our public education system.