Senate Democrats want surplus revenue allocated toward education

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - Senate Democrats plan to use a projected increase in state revenues to expedite the timeline on fully funding teacher salaries required for Washington state to come into compliance with a state Supreme Court mandate.

Last week, lawmakers learned that state revenue projections look to increase by about $1.3 billion more than expected through 2021.

The supplemental budget proposal released Monday plans to allocate much of that money toward education, including $972 million to fully fund teacher and staff salaries by later this year.

The state has been in contempt of court since 2014 for lack of progress on satisfying a 2012 ruling that found that K-12 school funding was not adequate. In November the court said that a plan passed last year satisfied their earlier ruling, but the teacher salary portion needed to be fully paid this year.