State Rep. David Taylor Holds Town Hall Meeting In Sunnyside

Last night (Thursday) State Representative David Taylor held a town hall meeting in Sunnyside.  Taylor has been holding a series of meetings throughout the 15th District to hear what is on the minds of voters.  He is seeking input from citizens on what short term and long term issues they would like the legislature to be focusing on.

Some issues that Taylor said that keep coming up are: education, water, and economic development.

On the education issue, Taylor noted that the dropout rate in Sunnyside schools seemed high, and postulated that promoting a three track curriculum may be one way to address the issue.  He noted that over the last 20 years, schools have moved away from vocational and technical training options, and increasingly put students on a one-track program.  Taylor said that he comes from a family of educators, and has also met with the Sunnyside Schools Superintendent to discuss the high dropout rate.

Taylor said one way to deal with the high dropout rate would be to offer a three track program for students.  All three tracks would promote the traditional basics like reading, writing, and arithmetic; but would have divergent attributes from there.

• Track A would be primarily a vocational or technical track.  Students in this track would graduate high school and be able to get good jobs as skilled laborers.  Welding, auto repair, nursing, and robotics could be taught under this track.
• Track B would be for those students that are not sure if they want to go to college or not.  It would be set up for those more likely to earn a two-year degree after high school.  It would not include the most advanced college placement classes, but would offer some challenging college prep work to engage students.
• Track C would be designed for those that are almost 100% sure they will be pursuing a four-year degree after high school.  It would include the most advanced course offerings.

Taylor said the state could run a “pilot” program, perhaps in Sunnyside, to try and address the issue of a high dropout rate.  By offering more options than a one track system, students would hopefully remain engaged, and be more productive members of society by working as skilled laborers after leaving school.

Rep. Taylor reiterated support for the state constitutional requirements to address public health, safety, and education.  He disagreed with priorities being shifted away from these areas, with more money being spent on environmental programs.  He noted that the state spent several million dollars to buy an island for those who like to kayak to paddle around, while cuts were made in education, parks, and many other areas.

The state budget continues to suffer from deficit projections, despite revenues being fairly stable.  Taylor said that the budget problems are more of a spending problem than a revenue problem.  He is opposed to raising taxes to pay for more state programs.

I would personally like to thank State Representative David Taylor for making himself available to the citizens in this public meeting.  He said that he intends to hold more such meetings in the future, at least a couple of times a year, in various parts of the 15th District.