The following is a release from the Washington State Education Association:

Lake Washington School District teachers are the latest to approve a one-day strike against the Washington Legislature over funding for smaller K-12 class sizes and professional pay and benefits for educators.

They’ll be walking out May 6, and classes will be canceled for the day. Lake Washington Education Association is the 11th teachers union to call a one-day strike to protest the state’s failure to fully fund K-12 public education. Lake Washington Education Association President Kevin Teeley emphasized teachers are taking action against the state, not the Lake Washington School District, and he said teachers appreciate the community’s support.

Teeley said teachers are particularly outraged by the state budget plan approved by the Republican-controlled Senate.

The Republican Senate budget increases class sizes in grades 4-12 and in high-poverty schools, and the Senate voted to put I-1351 (the class size initiative) back on the fall ballot even though more than 1 million voters just approved it in November.

The Senate budget also has $370 million less for educator pay and benefits than what the House budget funds. The Senate also passed a controversial, punitive bill that mandates the use of state test scores in teacher evaluations. Add it all up, Teeley said, and teachers have had enough.

“Sen. Andy Hill, who wrote the Senate budget, pulled his kids out of Lake Washington schools and sent them to private schools so they would have small class sizes,” Teeley said. “Apparently, he believes his kids deserve small class sizes, but not the rest of the students in the Lake Washington School District.”

Teeley also said that after six years with no state cost of living adjustment, and five years with no increase in funding for educator health care, the Senate budget’s compensation proposal is an insult. While Hill and other legislators are slated to get an 11.2 percent raise, the Senate budget gives teachers a mere 3 percent cost of living adjustment spread over two years – and still no increase in health care funding.

“It’s amazing how the Legislature can meet in an  emergency session and find the money to give Boeing an $8.7 billion tax break, but they can’t seem to find the money to fund schools as mandated by our state Constitution,” Teeley said.

Lake Washington School District is the sixth largest district in the state with over 26,700 students. Lake Washington Education Association represents over 1,700 members.