The person elected to represent the 18th District in Olympia will be part of a group of lawmakers tasked with fulfilling the state Supreme Court’s mandate to adequately fund the Washington’s public school system.
In a meeting with The Columbian’s editorial board Thursday, the three candidates vying for the Position 1 House seat had different takes on how they would tackle the problem.
The incumbent, Rep. Brandon Vick, R-Vancouver, said raising taxes is not the answer.
“We keep going back to the same well and that well has dried up,” Vick said.
Vick’s solution is to take a look at unfunded mandates and reform the education system. After that, he said, it’s about making cuts. State lawmakers are responsible for funding education, infrastructure projects and public safety, he said, and anything “outside of that, quite frankly, has to be fair game.”
His Republican challenger, John Ley, who lives in Camas and is a captain for Delta Air Lines, said the answer is reallocating the money that is sent to the state’s public schools and make sure it’s being used more efficiently, landing in the classroom.
Vicks’ Democratic challenger, Mike Briggs of Washougal, said he believes the money could be raised through a combination of moves, including raising taxes. The state should take a hard look at current tax incentives on the books and consider increasing user fees.
“I’m a big fan of the user fee,” Briggs said. “When the public is going to use a service, you pay for that service. It’s the most equitable.”
When it came to the topic of the now-defunct Columbia River Crossing project, Vick said it might be the only time in his career where he wished the federal government got more involved. The CRC would have replaced the Interstate 5 Bridge and extended Portland’s light rail system to Vancouver.
“This is the one project I wish the feds would step in and do their job,” Vick said, calling the federal government’s $800 million in funding “insulting.”
“This should be a federal project. … For me, that’s how this thing gets solved the quickest, the need isn’t going away,” Vick said.
Ley, a vocal critic of the CRC, said the process was hijacked by those in favor of light rail and believes it’s time to start back at square one, having open discussions and considering alternative routes across the river.
“I think the easiest, cheapest alternative would be an eastside bridge,” he said.
On Clark County Commissioner David Madore’s proposed east county bridge, Briggs said, “anyone can sit back and play armchair engineer.”
Briggs, who is a fan of mass transit and is not opposed to light rail, said “nothing is going to happen until I-5 is addressed.”
Ley and Vick are both opposed to expanding background checks on gun purchases. Ley said he would be in favor of arming teachers if they felt comfortable using firearms.
Briggs, a hunter and gun owner, said background checks don’t appear to cause any harm, and that he is in favor of a measure slated for the November ballot which would require background checks on guns purchased at gun shows or online.
“If background checks can affect the death rate? Yeah, put me down as a yes,” in support, Briggs said.
The primary is Aug. 5 and the general election is Nov. 4.
