The work of the recently concluded legislative session has been applauded as a big step forward for policies generally favorable for the people. The Legislature renewed programs that had been placed on the back burner during years of political stalemate and economic stagnation.

But many of the “victories” only prevented further steps backward. The goal posts have been moved so far down the field against the interests of ordinary people in the past four years that the recent yardage gained for education and health care isn’t enough to get to a first down.

The Democrats can rightfully claim a better stewardship of the state’s paramount duty to educate all children. The Legislature finally fully funded Initiative 728, which the voters approved in 2000. But do we measure this year’s legislative action by what was taken away two years ago, or do we measure it by the needs of our children to meet the educational standards posed by WASL tests?

Funding I-728 will push $196 more per student into our public schools from the student achievement fund. But that is a pittance when one out of three kids in high school fails to graduate in four years, and 56 percent of 10th-graders failed the WASL math exam in 2004. We can’t increase student achievement when our per-student expenditure puts us in 42nd place among the states, rubbing elbows with Alabama.

The Legislature did finally fund inflation adjustments for K-12 teachers, something the voters put into law five years ago. So that means that teacher pay will keep up with inflation, but it does nothing to address the fact that teacher salaries still rank last among the West Coast states. The enticement is to go south to Oregon, where teachers can earn almost $4,000 more annually.

The Legislature preserved funding for health care for 100,000 lower-income working people in the Basic Health Plan. Looked at from the perspective of last December, when Gov. Gary Locke proposed to eliminate 16,000 slots from the Basic Health Plan, this seems like a true gain. But in 2001, the people voted overwhelmingly to fund health coverage for 175,000 people in the Basic Health Plan. So we have taken one step forward to make up for two steps back. And we did this while the number of uninsured has grown over the last four years by 200,000 people.

The Legislature passed a better formula for determining unemployment compensation for workers. But that doesn’t help a worker who has earned $40,000 for the past year and is now receiving $385 a week while trying to provide for a family. It doesn’t do anything to help unemployed workers keep health insurance, which they typically lose when they lose their jobs.

On the tax side of the ledger, we hear a lot of gnashing of teeth by the Republicans. But let’s look more carefully. The Legislature reinstated the estate tax. This affects fewer than 1,000 estates and only the largest ones with the most inheritable wealth. Add together the changes in federal and state law, and you will find that estate taxes have dropped, creating a public blessing of inherited wealth and privilege.

And Republicans don’t mention that the other big tax hike was on cigarettes. After all, even if we burned all the money from a cigarette tax, the tax itself is an important public health measure, because it especially discourages teenagers and young adults from smoking.

That’s it for taxes: a tax on the estates of the very wealthy deceased and a tax on bad habits!

Republicans like to say that 2006 will be like 1994, when the Democrats lost their big majorities in the Legislature. And Democrats seem to be a little fearful of the Republican rhetoric. What neither party is admitting is that the Democrats lost big in 1994 because they failed at the national level to come up with the solution for health coverage. The citizens voted out failure, not success.

This legislative session the Democrats gained some yardage. But we need to see a lot more forward progress and a couple of touchdowns just to tie the game and keep up with the currents that are raising havoc with our economy, our health care and our educational system. That’s the yardstick for determining legislative success and for staking out the work that needs to be done in 2006.

John Burbank, executive director of the Economic Opportunity Institute (www.eoionline.org), writes every other Wednesday. Write to him in care of the institute at 1900 Northlake Way, Suite 237, Seattle, WA 98103. His e-mail address is john@eoionline.org.