DeBolt, Savoca differ on K-12 in District 20 race

Richard DeBolt and Michael Savoca, both running for a state House of Representatives seat in the 20th legislative district, are entering this year’s election with a fundamentally different view on one of the state’s most debated topics: K-12 education.

Incumbent DeBolt, an Adna Republican, said he’s wary of pumping more money into the system without building more classrooms. Challenger Savoca, a Rainier resident who claims no party preference, said he’d levy an income tax on the state’s wealthiest citizens.

The candidates are running for one of two House seats up for grabs in the 20th District: position one. The district encompasses the southernmost portion of Thurston County, most of Lewis County and the northernmost portion of Clark County.

DeBolt has served in the Legislature since the mid-1990s, except for a hiatus due to illness. He’s held several party leadership positions including House minority leader, a role he held in 2004 and again from 2006 to 2013.

This would be Savoca’s first stint in the Legislature, although he’s held public office before as a Rainier School Board member. Savoca said he blames political parties for gridlock both in Congress and in state government, saying he would focus on what his constituents need instead of what a party needs.

“I don’t like political parties because allegiance to parties often comes before allegiance to the country,” Savoca said.

One of those needs, he said, is K-12 education funding. Savoca said he wholeheartedly agrees with the Washington Supreme Court with regards to the McCleary decision, which compels state lawmakers to better fund K-12 education.

He argued the best way to meet that mandate is to implement a state income tax, which would only impact the wealthy, not the average citizen. Individuals who earn more than $500,000 per year would be taxed.

“The way we fund McCleary is not by expanding taxes on the average person,” Savoca said. “We need to expand the tax base to the wealthy.”

But DeBolt said that if he’s re-elected, he’ll advocate for no new taxes, whether they come in the form of income taxes, gas taxes or carbon emissions taxes. Instead, he would push for passage of a bill creating a separate fund for projects relating to the state’s water issues — flooding, water quality, etc.

Creating this new fund would free up enough money in the state’s capital budget to build new classrooms, which will be critical in reducing class size in the future, he said.

“It doesn’t do us any good to put more money in the K-12 system if we don’t have room for our students,” DeBolt said. “And that should be enough to fulfill the McCleary decision for this biennium.”

“But, I’m not sure if the court would agree with me,” he added.

In addition to creating a state income tax, Savoca said he would further the state’s taxing system by repealing business and occupation taxes. The taxes are inherently unfair, he said, because the system is riddled with loopholes and exemptions that favor the rich.

He argued that while large companies such as Boeing and Microsoft provide Washington residents with good jobs, citizens would be better served if the Legislature were to help companies hiring in areas besides King County.

“I don’t want to soak Boeing, and I don’t want to soak Microsoft, these are important companies,” Savoca said. “But how do I turn to a company in Lewis County and say, ‘You have to pay your taxes’ when Boeing and Microsoft get away with paying hardly anything?”

DeBolt, who is an active member of United Way of Lewis County, said he would like to find a way for the Legislature to work with community organizations to end poverty.

“That’s something I’ve been very focused on,” DeBolt said.

This story was originally published October 19, 2014 at 11:22 PM with the headline "DeBolt, Savoca differ on K-12 in District 20 race."