Free Republic

In the tiny Hockinson School District, the budget gap is $250,000. For Vancouver Public Schools, the shortfall is more like $4 million, officials say. In the Evergreen district, it’s at least $1.6 million. Across Clark County and Washington state, school districts are feeling the pinch of a large cost-of-living pay hike for teachers and other workers, approved by state legislators earlier this year.

Two Seattle high schools are among seven statewide that will lose a chance to add and strengthen Advanced Placement courses in math and science because a $13.2 million grant that Washington state won last year has been scrapped. The National Math & Science Initiative (NMSI), based in Dallas, announced that it will end Washington's grant because NMSI was unable to reach agreement with Washington's schools on the terms of the contract. NMSI declined to give any specifics, but state Rep. Bill Fromhold, who resigned his legislative post as of next year so he could help administer Washington's grant, said it...