Why does our 41st District state Sen. Steve Litzow not support our schools? This week he stepped in as committee chair to block a bipartisan effort in the Legislature to reduce class size, expand all-day kindergarten and meet a court-ordered deadline for action set over four years ago by the state Supreme Court.

In 2012, the Washington Supreme Court found that the state Legislature was not meeting its most basic constitutional obligation to fully fund our state schools. Legislators were given five years to fix their chronic underfunding. Last year, the Legislature was found in contempt, failing to even come up with a plan after four long years.

At the last moment possible to make a commitment to adequate funding, what did Steve Litzow do? Did he put our kids’ futures first? Did he push to meet the minimum funding required by the Constitution? Did he convey his constituents’ desire to fully support our schools? Or did he follow the voices in the Republican party that seek to undermine the courts and politically posture in a show of raw, political power?

It doesn’t matter. We know what he did. And we will not forget. In 2017 when he next asks to be rehired, it is his political gamesmanship and disregard of our best interests that we will remember.

Bruce Becker

Mercer Island