Within a span of about 24 hours, Washington's legislative majority passed the state's first income tax — sold as the key to “fully funding” education — then approved cuts totaling more than $1 billion to K-12 and child care over the next four years. The income tax revenue won't arrive until 2028. So, it never could have protected the programs used to justify it.

The irony runs deeper than timing. Washington already spends $21,000 per pupil, yet most students can't demonstrate grade-level proficiency in core subjects. Mississippi spends almost $7,000 less per pupil and now outperforms Washington on fourth-grade reading and math. More money isn't the answer. Spending it better is.

Meanwhile, Washington families are effectively being taxed twice: their federal income taxes could fund a $700+ million annual scholarship program that Olympia refuses to access — while lawmakers just passed a new state income tax that won't deliver a dollar to classrooms until 2028, if at all.