• Initiated a new emphasis on early learning, funding thousands of new enrollments, improving the wages and benefits of child care workers, and creating a new Early Learning Department to consolidate Head Start, Early Childhood Education, and child care programs.

• Funded a historic increase in basic education funding, including all-day kindergarten,
class size reduction, special education, transportation, math curriculum, and other concerns.

• Doubled the state investment in school construction across Washington.

• Implemented two citizen initiatives, I-728 to reduce class sizes,
and I-732 to raise salaries of teachers and school employees.

• Created the Education Legacy Trust Fund, generating new revenue from wealthy estates
to help pay for our public schools and higher education institutions.

• Expanded higher education enrollments, as well as financial aid through state need grants,
vastly increasing opportunities for students to get a college education,
particularly for jobs in high demand fields.

• Created the Opportunity Grants program, providing free tuition and educational stipends
for thousands of students in community colleges, linking students to specific jobs.

• Approved a constitutional amendment for simple majorities for school levies,
allowing the voters to make it easier to approve operating levies for local school districts.

• Forced a major reform of math curriculum and testing, matching new learning standards
with the requirements of modern-day jobs in the real world.

• Initiated a Community Schools program, to open up public school facilities
for multi-purpose community activities, co-location of related non-profit agencies
such as Boys and Girls Clubs, and ensuring that surplus school properties
are kept for community and public use.

• Enhanced Career and Technical Education programs and Skills Centers
to provide better connections to high demand jobs and more modern training facilities.

• Reformed and expanded the Learning Assistance Program, to target extra support
to low-income students who are struggling to succeed in our public schools.

Education, Health Care and Social Security, Jobs, Environment, Reform