Resolution to Support Locals Fighting to Fully Fund Our Schools

March 20, 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 the success of collective actions such as ‘work to rule’, walkouts/strikes and other tactics to address wealth inequality and tax injustice depends on understanding and support from the community;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the MLK Labor Council will support Education Association member locals with communications, outreach, and other appropriate material support in service of strengthening efforts to democratically plan and carry out direct actions intended to achieve school funding justice.