Restoring Washington
Washington is a beautiful place to live
blessed with tremendous resources, bountiful fields and farms and creative, industrious citizens. It has been a crucible that helped forged Boeing, Microsoft, Amazon, Starbucks and others that have made our state prosperous, transforming the world in the process.
Unfortunately, our state’s Democratic leaders have enacted layer upon layer of regulations, restrictions and ideologically driven policies which undercut the foundations of that success. From public safety to education and housing, business environment and cost of living, Washington has been going in the wrong direction. While bad policy has caused many to run to Idaho, Alan has stepped up to fight back and instead chosen to run for Olympia to restore opportunity for our communities, families and future.
Alan has acted, serving wherever needed, standing firm to make things better in our state. He continues to lead now and has a clear vision for how to achieve change in our state government despite being in the minority.
What Alan Has Done
Pushed fiscally responsible budgeting for the Mead School District. Helped end the fiscal emergency and achieve a balanced budget.
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Oversaw efforts to end the fiscal crisis that started in 2019 and lead to closure of alternative educational programs. The school district CFO recently reported the $195M budget is within $75k of being balanced.
Fought to remove ideology from classrooms, refocus the district educational outcomes and acquire new curriculum.
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Fulfilled the district’s promise to use voter-approved levy funds. Helped formulate vetting process that included significant role for district parents. Delivered high-quality, content neutral materials to district teachers for the first time in over a decade.
Pushed back against overreach by state agencies to protect our students.
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When the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) attempted to impose policies that exceeded requirements in Washington law and violated Title IX along with other federal guidelines, Alan and the board acted to protect Mead Students, stopping OSPI’s efforts in its tracks.
Stopped Inslee administration when it failed to follow process for filling vacancies on state-level building code group.
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When Governor Inslee disregarded the nomination of Alan to fill a seat on the State Building Code Council (SBCC), he joined with the other candidates to file suit and won.
Fought to protect girls’ sports.
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Collaborated with school board members from across the state to advance proposals to protecting the opportunity for girls to have safe and fair competition in sports. Let’s finish the task by voting to YES on IL26-638: Protecting girls’ sports this fall!
What Alan Is Doing Now
Standing against the unnecessary Spokane Transit Authority (STA) sales tax proposal.
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Alan is campaigning against STA Prop 1 that would continue a 0.2% local sales tax. This would cost our community members ~$1B on top of the ~$3B a separate 0.6% sales tax rate will generate for STA. Since the 2016 approval of the “temporary” 0.2% sales tax rate, STA has built and additional $234M in cash reserves, with $274M now on hand.
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This money is clearly not needed for operations, nor would any sales tax revenue be needed if STA would attempt to break even (spoiler alert, it doesn’t). Our community is overtaxed and it’s time to let families keep their money in their pockets. Join Alan in stopping this cash grab.
Pushing Washington to opt in for the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit
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Wouldn’t it be great if you could take the money you already pay in federal taxes and allocate it to a local school of your choice? Well in the 2027, you can thanks to the Education Freedom Tax Credit, which allows up to a $1,700 deduction for contributions made to an identified Scholarship Granting Organization.
There is a catch, Governor Ferguson has to opt the Washington State into the program. Unfortunately, he refuses to do so because of pressure from the Washington Education Association. Governor Ferguson is choosing to forego the potential for tens of millions of dollars to help Washington schools to pay for educational expenses. Alan is spreading the news, educating community members and encouraging them to speak up so Governor Ferguson opts Washington into the program before the January 1, 2027 Deadline.
What Alan Will Do in Olympia
More oversight, less legislation
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Our legislators need to spend less time passing new laws and more time verifying the current laws are working well for our state and the money allocated is being used effectively. As your legislator, Alan will push for more oversight grounded in data-based assessment of performance
Push for accountability in the legislative process
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Once Olympia passes a law, it feels like it never looks back. It’s not enough to just pass legislation, policy needs to have a clear statement of the problem it is solving, what the end goals looks like and a means to measure progress. The legislature needs to revisit laws to ensure they are working. To drive accountability, Alan will propose language on every bill considered identifying the goal, establishing a metric for evaluating progress and requiring legislative reauthorization at the 5-year point for legislation to remain in force.
Expand options for parents in educating their children
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Parents are not merely stakeholders in their children’s’ education, they are the rightful authority in making decisions on raising their children. Washington is failing in its “paramount duty…to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders,” and it’s time to put the power back into the hands of parents.
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Public education in Washington is failing our kids. A recent report shows 70% of eight grades are not proficient in math and 68% of fourth graders are not proficient in reading, but all state leadership does is complain it is an unfair comparison. Families deserve access to quality education, if their local schools are failing them, the state dollars allocated to educate their child should follow their child. Geography should not be destiny when it comes to preparing our kids for the 21st century economy.