(The Center Square) – Washington state is overspending its revenue by billions of dollars, but finding out just how many billions has state officials offering up broadly different figures.
During last Thursday’s meeting of the Washington State Board of Education, J. Lee Schultz, SBE’s deputy executive director, provided a brief update on the coming legislative session, which was interrupted by SBE Chair Randy Spalding to say he’d just received a note from Maddy Thompson in the office of Gov. Jay Inslee.
“The note said it’s now been increased to $14 billion,” Spalding said, a reference to the state’s projected operating budget deficit.
“Oh,” responded Schultz, sounding caught off guard. “It’s unfortunate, so okay.”
The Center Square reached out to Inslee’s office to inquire about the $14 billion figure, which had not otherwise been publicly reported.
Inslee spokesman Mike Faulk responded via email to say, “I’m confident whoever made that dubious claim is not an authoritative source.”