Good COLA news!

Last night at the Rep Council meeting for WEA-Eastern Washington we had a presentation from Rosemary Wolf, who works in the political action department at the WEA Headquarters in Federal Way. This year's I-732 COLA for teachers is 3.9%, which is based off of the consumer price index in Seattle; added to that will be a .5% catch-up AND a .6% salary equity bump, for a total raise next year of 5%.

Not too shabby!

It speaks very well of the influence that the WEA members have in Olympia. The emails you sent made a difference--we met our goals for both the 7th and 9th legislative districts, which are the main ones for Medical Lake. A special "THANK YOU!" to all the WEAPAC members in the district; the WEAPAC dues pay for our Legislative Action Teams, and that face-to-face contact we have with the legislators is crucial.

We shouldn't ever forget the bad ol' days, when our raises ran 0-0-4-0-3-0 over a six-year span. Since I-732 in 2001 our COLA raises have been 3.7, 3.6, 0, 0, 1.2, 3.3, 4.3, and this year's budgeted 5.0%. That's a measure of security many don't enjoy, and that's why we're encouraging everyone to email their legislators to say "Thank you!" for their support of education this session. You can send them an easy email throug the State Legislature website here or the WEA portal, here.