washington outlook
Opportunity Washington Provides a
Long-term Vision for Shared Prosperity
Richard S. Davis
Organized around policies that promote education and workforce training, transportation
investment, and competitive tax and regulatory policies, Opportunity Washington lays
out a positive agenda for our state.
Most political observers expect the 2015 legislative session to
be long and rancorous. Problems begin with the budget, now
complicated by the state Supreme Court’s McCleary mandate, the
contempt order, and the voters’ narrow and ill-conceived approval
of an unaffordable class size reduction initiative.
Estimates of the shortfall start at $1 billion and climb rapidly.
From there, the list continues: climate change, minimum wage,
transportation funding, tax policy, higher education, and more.
Opportunity Washington’s policy recommendations are organized
around three fundamental priorities: Achieve, Connect and Employ.
achieve: provide a high-caliber education and workforce
development system geared to the demands of the 21st
century. An estimated 70 percent of all jobs in the state will
require postsecondary training or education by the end of this
decade. Washington students have a great opportunity to fill those
positions and help grow the state economy. To give them
the best chance of success, we need an education system
that assures that all students graduate from high school
career- and college-ready. Meeting the demand will
require expanded access to postsec