I-2109 IS DEFEATED! BUT WE HAVE MORE WORK TO DO.

Washington voters spoke up for kids in the 2024 election and roundly defeated I-2109, the ballot initiative that would have repealed our state’s capital gains tax and cut billions from early learning, child care, K-12 education and school construction. 

This hard-won victory gives us hope at a time when so many of us need it. As a leading member of the No on I-2109 campaign, Children’s Alliance worked tirelessly with a coalition of community partners to educate voters on the harmful consequences of the initiative. This included participating in televised debates, authoring the opposition statement in our state’s Voters Guide, and speaking out against the Initiative in media outlets across the state. We took this Initiative personally! 

Dr. Stephan Blanford (center) with members of the No on I-2109 campaign. 

This victory is proof that the majority of Washingtonians support investments in education and believe that our state’s wealthiest residents should pay their fair share in taxes. But the journey to get there was long and difficult.  

In 2021, the early learning coalition that we lead successfully secured much-needed reforms and support for children, their families and providers through the Fair Start for Kids Act, funded by the capital gains tax. We had to fight in the courts when cynical efforts to negate those investments were legally contested. And we had to fight back once again when our progress for children was threatened at the ballot box this year by shameless and greedy millionaires and billionaires who wanted to give themselves a tax break. 

We are relieved that the state will retain a valuable source of revenue to expand access to affordable, high-quality early learning programs, and fund school construction and renovation projects. Thanks to the capital gains tax, dedicated investments in early learning have increased from just $28 million in fiscal years 2021-23, to $386 million in fiscal years 2023-25, and 171 school construction projects across the state have received funding. 

But we cannot stop there. We should feel emboldened to push our legislators to capitalize on this momentum and create more sources of progressive revenue to help build a future where every child in Washington can thrive.  

The struggle for justice does not stop on Election Day. The only way to persuade our elected leaders to take bold action is through the cumulative actions we take throughout the year. We urge you to familiarize yourself with your local elected representatives so you can be ready to advocate with us as soon as the state legislative session begins on January 13. Our children deserve a better shared future, and you can exercise your political power beyond the ballot box to help bring about that change.