Claire has spent her career helping children and families access education and opportunity. As a classroom educator, family engagement director, early learning administrator, School Board President, legislator, and vice chair of the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Committee, she has helped Federal Way and school districts across Washington increase access to comprehensive preschool programs improving school readiness for incoming kindergarteners, increase graduation rates for students across the district, and expand career training and college preparedness. With your vote, Claire will continue investing in our children and communities.

Our Paramount Duty

Education on every level in our state is still critically underfunded. We can and must go further in fulfilling our paramount duty and creating an equal educational playing field.

Zip code should not dictate educational quality. Educational inequalities further entrench class and racial wealth gaps. Claire is proud to have passed the Fair Start for Kids Act, funding accessible childcare for all Washingtonians with a capital gains tax, and she is ready to do more! We must take more of the burden of funding schools off of local districts and local taxpayers by making the state provide the funding for a great K-12 education that every student and every classroom need. By fixing our upside-down and unfair tax system we can fully fund education for all kids while lowering the massive property tax burden that makes it harder for middle class families to make ends meet.

As your Senator, I will work on and support legislation that holds large corporations and millionaires accountable, and demands they pay their fair share so that we can fully fund education for all.

Early Learning

Claire helped create the WA State Early Learning Plan – a robust statewide early learning system which provided a roadmap and an aligned system of support for our youngest learners, but she knows there’s more work to do. Claire believes preschool should be universal and as common practice as grade school. She will fight to secure funding for early learning services for children across the state – prenatal through grade 3 or age 8 – starting with creating universal access to quality early learning programs, regardless of income or zip code.

Special Education

The state legislature has yet to provide adequate funding for special education. Claire will prioritize funding for more paraeducators and resources in all of our schools so children can learn together in a way that each and every student’s unique needs are met.

College and Career Readiness

Claire is committed to ensuring workers and young people pursuing a trade have the professional and technical skills they need to succeed. In Olympia, she has supported apprenticeship and postsecondary education programs in Federal Way. She will continue to expand higher education and career and technical education opportunities so people have the opportunity and training necessary to meet the demands of our changing economy. Claire will continue to invest in training opportunities here in South King County and across the state where people work and live, not just in city centers like Seattle or Tacoma.

Teacher Pay

Claire believes the people working for the education of our children should be paid in accordance with the high value and importance of the work they do. She will continue to fight to ensure teachers get the raises they deserve, so they are able to live where they work and every district can recruit and retain the great teachers our students deserve.

Class Sizes

Claire knows that smaller class sizes are critical for getting students the personal attention they need from teachers. Voters have repeatedly passed initiatives demanding smaller class sizes, but legislators haven’t fully delivered. Claire will make sure that the legislature gets to work on delivering funding for smaller class sizes for all students. And she will fight for increased funding for support staff and other resources that give students the attention and tools they need to achieve success.

Protecting Immigrant Students

As an education professional, Claire worked for years with countless children and families that identify as immigrant and refugee, including DACA recipients, to help them navigate our education systems and learn what they needed to succeed.  She has provided support to scholars applying for Act 6 Scholarships as well as supporting scholars in completion of FAFSA, WAFSA and College Bound financial supports. 

Claire is fighting to make Washington State a leader on protecting immigrant students and families against ICE, deportation, and other threats. She supports policies that create tangible protections for immigrant students such as creating pathways to citizenship, and continuing to provide access and opportunities without documentation status as a qualifier for services.