
Lars Larson says it’s your kids who pay the price for higher teacher wages and fading test scores
Lars Larson
The Northwest Nonsense
The numbers tell the tale. Oregon and Washington rank as some of the best states in America to be a teacher and the worst if you’re a student.

Fat paychecks and pensions, bottom rank for reading and math.
Both states have doubled spending on schools in the last decade while test scores dropped.
You know who’s getting it right?
Mississippi. I know, reputationally a backwards state and outspent by blue states like Oregon and Washington.
But in the last decade it has gone from the bottom of the American education pile to the top.
And the solution ain’t rocket science.
Students get tested in the third grade and if they’re not ready, they get held back. Students get tutoring.
Eighteen thousand bucks in Oregon per student per year for K-12.
Nineteen thousand in Washington. Tuition for Ducks and Huskies costs far less.
But you have to understand how failure benefits teachers and Democrats.
Failing teachers unions demand bigger paychecks. Union dues fund political contributions, exclusively to Democrats.
And your kids pay the price.
Also read:
- Opinion: Washington is bleeding taxpayers and now a State Representative wants to make it worseMark Harmsworth argues that a proposed statewide payroll tax would worsen Washington’s ongoing loss of jobs, businesses, and economic competitiveness.
- Opinion: Simultaneous left turnsDoug Dahl explains how Washington law directs drivers to make simultaneous left turns by passing to the left of each other in an intersection.
- Opinion: WEA secret meeting about opposing the initiatives gets leakedAn opinion from Let’s Go Washington criticizes a leaked Washington Education Association meeting about opposing LGW’s initiatives on girls’ sports and school transparency.
- Opinion: Kitchen table advocacy – Influence the legislature from homeNancy Churchill encourages citizens to influence the Washington State Legislature from home by focusing on committees, building small advocacy teams, and engaging positively with legislators.
- Opinion: When elected officials raise your property taxes, don’t blame the assessorPaul Guppy explains that property tax increases are set by elected officials, not assessors, and urges holding the right officials accountable to restore fiscal sanity.







