By Bill Lucia | Editor
State employee unions are heading toward difficult salary discussions as they negotiate new contracts this year. The contract talks come as the governor’s office is warning that the next two-year budget will require closing a significant gap in the state’s finances, with revenue falling short of expenses. The last round of contract negotiations resulted in agreements with general wage increases of 3% last July and 2% on July 1. The total cost of those contracts was about $1.7 billion.
Also in today’s edition…
The state slips again in a national education ranking.
The man accused of smashing windows at the state Capitol pleads not guilty.
And, Americans struggle to afford healthcare costs.
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Hundreds of state workers at the state Capitol protested potential furloughs on Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (Photo by Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero/Washington State Standard)
By Jerry Cornfield
Union negotiators said that they approached this year’s talks knowing that the state’s finances would be strained.
“All of our bargaining teams have been preparing for negotiations with a clear understanding of the financial challenges,” said Ashley Fueston, vice president of the Washington Federation of State Employees, which represents 50,000 workers.
But she added: “We also know that state employees have faced years of increasing workloads, staffing shortages, and retention challenges.”
The Office of Financial Management, which is the governor’s budget office, conducts negotiations for the state. By law, the unions must approve any agreements by Oct. 1 for the governor to consider funding them in the next budget cycle.
By Aspen Ford
Washington dropped from 27th in the nation to 31st overall among states in K-12 education rankings included in an annual report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Last year, the state fell one spot. A little over a decade ago, it ranked 20th.
The Kids Count Data Book includes statistics from across the country on children’s economic well-being, education, health, and family and community life. The 2026 report marks the organization’s 37th year of publication. In Washington, the latest analysis shows that 70% of eighth graders were not proficient in math and 68% of fourth graders were not proficient in reading.
Washington’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction remains skeptical of the research, contends that the state has “made progress in every area” covered in the report, and suggests that the findings include unfair comparisons between states.
Man accused of smashing Capitol windows pleads not guilty
By Jake Goldstein-Street
The man accused of shattering windows at the state Capitol last week pleaded not guilty to four criminal charges Friday. Clayton Stephen Seaborn, 21, is charged in Thurston County Superior Court with first-degree malicious mischief, attempting to elude police, second-degree assault and driving under the influence.
Seaborn allegedly smashed over a dozen windows at the Capitol with a concrete block he brought with him, just months after another man got inside and destroyed property. The suspect didn’t get into the Capitol because security film applied to the windows after last year’s vandalism held broken pieces together. The damage estimate is over $100,000. Seaborn reportedly told police that he does “dumb” stuff when drunk.
“When asked why he broke the windows on the (Capitol) Campus, he said that he was mad at the Government, that he was having a bad day and that he knew it was wrong,” charging papers read. According to court papers, Seaborn blew a blood-alcohol concentration over 0.17 in a breath test, over double the legal driving limit.
Seaborn is out of custody after posting $25,000 bail.
By Nada Hassanein
Forty-six percent of U.S. adults reported struggling to afford healthcare last year, according to a report released last week by the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research think tank. The report analyzed findings from a December 2025 survey of 10,000 working-age adults nationwide. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the research found that more than a third of all surveyed adults said a family member had unmet healthcare needs because of costs.
ICYMI
These new WA laws took effect June 11 | by Jake Goldstein-Street
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