Reducing overly cumbersome degree requirements for state jobs.

Washington State has a new state law dropping overly cumbersome degree requirements for state jobs.

According to an article I saw on Fox TV 13 via Yahoo News: The purpose of the legislation is to "[reduce] barriers to state employment by eliminating postgraduate degree requirements that are unnecessary." Specifically, it seeks to eliminate those requirements when they are "the only way to demonstrate qualifications" for a particular state job.

Ferguson says this will reduce barriers for employment and allow the state to get "the best people for public service."

(My take) I think it's a good idea. I wonder if it also applies to degree requirements for university professors in state run schools? More flexible screening, for skills needed on a job, is a good idea.

Photo from a website.

Washington State budget jigsaw puzzle.

Balancing the state budget isn't an easy task. It looks like Governor Ferguson is thinking of taking money away from dedicated climate commitment funds to fill a hole in the budget to fund a tax credit for low income working families. This means less money from Cap and Trade for things like public transit, bike lanes and other climate resilience things.

It's less easy to take funds away from K-12 education which is a large chunk of money. State constitution mandates K-12 to be the paramount duty of the state.

Still, if one thinks more wholistically, climate resilience can also be seen as education; for instance children under 18 can now ride transit for free. Maybe that's being too generous for kids even from higher income families, but there is an educational logic to the free fares as well. Supposedly people, who learn the ropes of alternative transit early in life, are more likely to be dedicated low carbon consumers for life. Who knows for sure as often people, who enter adult working and family raising years, feel the economic pressure to adopt more mainstream ways such as feeling the necessity of having a car.

Ferguson is also proposing a wealth tax which could provide more revenue. Still a difficult lift and that proposal wouldn't go into effect till 2029, due to expected opposition and court challenges.

Like a jigsaw puzzle, the pieces of the budget are bigger than the revenue box. I seems to never all fit.

Transportation takes lots of money also, including the state ferries. Car ferries are expensive compared to smaller passenger / bike only ferries. Could some money be saved there? This would also be a hard lift as people are addicted to their cars. Getting from islands to the mainland is important though San Juan County, which relies on ferries, is near the top for per capita income of state counties. Taking dedicated gas tax money away from cars wouldn't be easy either.

Give and take does take lots of patience and it seems like just about everything in the budget is crucially important.

Maybe Ferguson could draft two budget rough drafts. One with the wealth tax and another that would have cuts assuming no wealth tax. Float both scenarios with clear explanations and see how it plays in public opinion.

We certainly can't have it all when there are so many needs and the puzzle pieces are larger than the box.

LGBTQ education in the schools

On a talk show some callers are in support of Florida's new law about early grade school. The new law is sometimes called the "don't say gay bill." The callers said early grades are too early to learn about certain things.

I realize that my first memory about gay and transgender topics was from early grade school. The learning didn't come from the teacher. It came from other kids. My classmates were not that accurate of a source for information. In most cases, I think the teacher would do a better job if allowed. If nothing else, at least respect for folks who are different from mainstream ought to be encouraged.