Initiative 1098 Pro: Tax would provide needed school and health care funding

We all know how important education is for our children and our state's future. We know how essential health care is for our communities. Yet we've been heading backwards on these priorities for years and the current recession is making things even worse.

Here in the Bellingham area, we have slashed education jobs, making our class sizes even larger. Tuition at Western Washington University is up by double digits. We have cut more than 40,000 people statewide from the Basic Health Plan and in Whatcom and Skagit Counties the wait list is now more than one and a half times the number of those covered. We're going the wrong way, and with more cuts coming, it looks like we'll continue going backward.