With this year's election over, state legislators now turn their attention to the upcoming legislative session and the challenge of how to appropriate fund the state's education system.

The News Tribune reminds us that economic growth is an effective strategy for generating the revenue needed to invest in education, and infrastructure investments are critical to ensuring that growth takes place.

"State economies are built on public infrastructure," the paper opined Nov. 12. "Roads, rail, ports, water and power lines are the foundations of the industries that employ people and generate taxes for education and the social safety net. Infrastructure doesn’t divert school money – it creates it."

And what better project to help that growth than completing State Route 167?

"Washington’s highway infrastructure is now plagued by gaps and bottlenecks that strangle economic growth ... The worst – in fact, the worst in the state – is the five-mile stretch where state Route 167 was supposed to connect to Interstate 5 and the Port of Tacoma. Because the Legislature let the highway terminate at Puyallup, freight trucks from the port and other vehicles crowd into northbound I-5 to run a gantlet of traffic jams in King County."

The importance of investing in transportation to fuel economic growth is not lost on other states (states, by the way, eager to create more jobs as Washington’s expense).

According to the National Journal, voters in Hawaii, California, Rhode Island, Texas, Wisconsin and Maryland approved funds for highways, transit or water projects.

In response, the Wenatchee World noted, “A perceptive legislator would see a trend, a willingness by voters to invest in infrastructure. The voters can see it with their own eyes, and feel it in their backside. They know where we have slacked off and fallen short. Given the right proposal, they may even agree to tax themselves. Done right, the dividends will exceed the expense.”

Our leaders will face many tough choices starting in January. Picking between education and transportation is a false choice. Let's invest in one to generate the money that is so desperately needed to fund the other. Let's pass a transportation package and complete SR-167.