K-12 fared better than expected

When it came to the state's public schools, some were happy that the proposed state budget cuts weren't worse.

"Overall, I think K-12 education did as well as we could possibly hope for," said Paul Rosier, executive director of the Washington Association of School Administrators.

The biggest proposed cuts were:

• Suspending the cost-of-living raises that teachers receive under Initiative 732 ($349 million in savings).

• Cutting roughly one-quarter of Initiative 728, designed to lower class sizes ($178 million in savings).

• And slashing one-third of "levy equalization," which helps "property-poor" districts ($125 million in savings).

Some questioned the fairness of reducing levy equalization, which would affect about 220 school districts that receive it, but not the 74 that do not. Federal Way, for example, is expected to receive about $5.3 million in levy equalization in 2009.

But there seemed to be support for suspending teacher raises rather than cutting deeper into Initiative 728, which districts have used to hire teachers.

"Given where we're at in our economy, I support the governor's decision to put jobs ahead of salary increases, and programs ahead of salary increases," Rosier said.

But Randy Dorn, the incoming Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Mary Lindquist, president of the Washington Education Association, the state's largest teachers union, said the state already underfunds its public schools, so shouldn't cut further.

Linda Shaw: 206-464-2359 or lshaw@seattletimes.com