Smart Bombs: Homework on education needed

You can’t fully understand the complexities of funding basic education without reading the two bills the Legislature adopted to accomplish this constitutional mandate. ESHB 2261 and SHB 2776 were passed in 2009 and 2010. I recommend reading both to discover what this controversy isn’t about.

It isn’t about complying with two voter-approved class-size initiatives, I-728 and I-1351. Nor is it about I-732, the initiative that called for teachers to receive an annual cost-of-living adjustment. It isn’t about Common Core or “excessive” student testing. It isn’t about a lot of issues mentioned by teachers during their May walkout to protest legislative inaction.

The state Supreme Court does mention class size, but only in grades K-3, because that’s what the bills cover. Initiative 1351 would have applied to all grades, at an absurd sum.

Consider the cost of reaching the Legislature’s goal of 17 students per classroom in the first four grades, where it would do the most good. It requires 4,000 more teachers and the buildings to house them and their students. Now, shrink class size in grades 4-12, and combine it with the voters’ demonstrated desire for a supermajority to pass any tax increase.

It’s not a simple assignment.

Brother in arms. On Tuesday, presidential candidate Jeb Bush stood up for his brother’s invasion of Iraq, and blamed President Barack Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for failing to build on the “surge” that temporarily quelled the insurgency.

“So why was the success of the surge followed by a withdrawal from Iraq, leaving not even the residual force that commanders and the Joint Chiefs knew was necessary?” Bush said.

At his final news conference Wednesday, retiring Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno answered the question.

“I remind everybody that us leaving at the end of 2011 was negotiated in 2008 by the Bush administration. That was always the plan, we had promised them that we would respect their sovereignty,” Odierno said.

The war next time. Other than Sen. Rand Paul, the Republican presidential candidates seem eager to renew wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and perhaps start a new one with Iran. Here are four questions they ought to answer first:

• Will you finance the wars transparently? To protect domestic tax cuts and spending increases, the Bush administration and Congress took the wars off budget. The deficit increased, but Americans outside the military sacrificed nothing.

• Will you push for a draft? The last wars were fought using the same troops over and over, causing mental health problems that could last a lifetime. The suicide rate also rose by an alarming rate. If not a draft, how will you address this?

• Will you set aside money to cover the skyrocketing increase in veterans’ costs? We have a century of data showing the shocking costs of war long after the final shot is fired. Will you acknowledge this up front and act?

• In the past, the enemy would formally surrender. Not anymore. So when will you know a war is over?

Safety off. When members of Oath Keepers were asked why they were roaming the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, late at night wearing bulletproof vests and camouflage gear while toting assault-style weapons, they replied that they were exercising their rights.

Couldn’t stretch that right to bear arms in a less volatile arena?

Missouri is a state with relatively permissive gun carry laws, so nothing Oath Keepers did was illegal, but it was dangerous. The St. Louis County police chief called it “unnecessary and inflammatory.”

Thankfully, most Americans have figured out how to exercise their rights without displaying contempt for public safety.