A columnist thinks about what I-884 could have done...

Initiative 884 was a 2004 sales tax increase proposal that would have raised $1 billion for schools. It was on the same ballot as Referendum 55, a ballot measure to gauge support for legislation that would have allowed charter schools. Both measures failed.

Spurred by receiving his North Thurston Public Schools M&O levy ballot in the mail, Jerry Cornfield, the political writer at The (Everett) Herald, wonders about what could have happened if the Washington Education Assocation focused on passing Initiative 884 (which received less than $100,000 in WEA support, he says), instead of/as well as focusing on defeating charter schools (he says the WEA gave nearly $1 million to the campaign against charter schools).

He argues that the $1 billion from I-884 would come in handy right now for the state's school districts, which face cuts due to expenses that are outpacing revenues.

To refresh people's memory, according to the Secretary of State's office, about 58 percent of voters said they didn't want charter schools, and 59 percent of voters said they didn't want the new sales tax.

--- Venice Buhain, Olympian education reporter