False Choices on GA-U

The proposed budget cuts in state funding for public schools are indeed "unnecessarily deep." That's a quote from today's Seattle Times editorial. Unfortunately, the rest of the editorial argues in favor of school funding at the expense of the General Assistance-Unemployable program, which provides medical care and a bare standard of living for adults with disabilities who, as the Times acknowledges, have no other options.

Like our support for public education, our state's GA-U program reflects our priorities and values. The Seattle Times says that we currently invest in the program because Washington is "a humane state." But we can't consider ourselves humane if we provide economic security to our most vulnerable during good times and leave them with no support when times are bad.

There is a better option than pitting the elimination of state funding for school districts against core supports for people in need. These are both important public priorities. It's long past time we had a real public conversation about how to pay for them both.