Apparently Sen. Rodney Tom isn’t listening to his district’s voters, who last month chose Democrats to serve in the state Legislature, to be governor of Washington, and to be president of the United States. And although Tom was elected as a Democrat, he announced Monday he will join the Republican minority in the state Senate to create a Minority Majority to control the floor and committee leadership of the Senate.

Tom is consistent, since he changed parties from Republican to Democratic in 2006 when he didn’t get what he wanted in the House of Representatives. Last spring he joined the Republicans and voted to approve another $74 million dollar cut in public school funding, after already cutting K-12 funding by $2.5 billion in recent years

In September the Bellevue Reporter outlined numerous ways the Bellevue School district leadership, staff, parents, and general community are offering innovative programs that are producing high levels of learning across the full diversity of Bellevue students. All of these local achievements were made despite the fact that last winter the Washington Supreme Court ruled the state Legislature, which Tom has inhabited for 10 years, has failed in its paramount duty to fully fund our public schools.

Why then did Tom announce this week he will block any attempts to find essential additional funding for our students’ schools? Local residents deserve a senator who matches their commitment to fully funded quality public schools. Unfortunately the voters will have to wait until the fall of 2014 to find that senator.

Stephen Miller, middle school social studies teacher, Bellevue