Addressing a packed house at the Kitsap Conference Center, Governor Jay Inslee praised the United States Navy and the shipyard workers who support and maintain the fleet.

“This is the best place, with the best people, the best people anywhere in the United States to maintain naval ships, are right here in this community,” he said.

Inslee, who was the keynote speaker at the Oct. 21 Bremerton Chamber of Commerce luncheon, also praised the Navy’s ongoing commitment to clean energy, citing recent efforts at Trident Training Facility Bangor which upgraded its chill water plant and installed direct digital controls. He noted that those changes helped reduce energy use by 25 percent and reduced water consumption by 48 percent.

“Now this is why I love the Navy, not only are they providing us security they’re really leading the world on technological change when it comes to clean energy,” he said. “And it’s all up and down the command chain.”

Inslee said that the state and private industry will need to follow the Navy’s lead to keep Washington exceptional.

“This exceptionalism, this world-class quality, both of life and entrepreneurship, is not guaranteed in the constitution,” he said. “It’s not something that we have as a birthright. It’s something we’ve got to continually build, and build on, in the competitive world we now live in. Now, more than ever, our state is faced with some really tough decisions on whether we are going to continue as an exceptional state or whether we’re going to continue a long erosion to the sad state of mediocrity.”

Inslee said he is focused on four areas, or pillars, to keep Washington moving forward. Those areas of focus are education, transportation, environmental stewardship and economic fairness.

When it comes to education, Inslee said he is focused on not just K-12, but early childhood learning through post-graduate studies.

“We have got to start making investments in that continuum of education or our state will start a gentle, not rapid, but consistent slide to mediocrity,” he said.

Inslee specifically addressed the difficulties of the McCleary decision and the legislature being held in contempt by the State Supreme Court for not adequately funding K-12 eduction.

“This is a challenge because the revenue structure that is the foundation of our business plan is broken,” he said. “It is a horse-and-buggy revenue system for an Internet age. It is failing. It is failing our kids. The reason it’s failing is because it’s built for an economy that doesn’t exist anymore. It worked OK for about 100 years when about seven percent of the economy went to education and all the other services the state provides. But that’s now down to 4.8 percent and it’s dropping rapidly.”

Inslee said the solution to funding K-12 will not be cutting other social safety nets.

“It is not a solution to our school funding woes to increase homelessness or increase hunger or increase illness,” he said. “I’ll tell you what, it’s pretty hard to educate any child on a certain day, but it’s darn-near impossible to educate a homeless, hungry, sick kid. There will be those who suggest the way to solve this problem of financing our K-12 system, is just to reduce the investments in other parts of state government that provide a support network for these children before they get to school in the morning.”

Inslee is also concerned about the affordability of college.

“Two decades ago, the ratio of state funds to tuition dollars at our colleges was 7:2,” he said. “So, the state put in $7 and students put in $2. Now, we’re putting in $3 and the students are putting in more than $6. We totally flipped that and, as a result, our students are being crushed by debt payments they have to service because of this exploding tuition rate.”

Inslee talked about transportation and got a brief round of applause when he said there are currently no plans to curtail service on the ferry run between Bremerton and Seattle. But, he said more investment is needed for ferries and state highways.

“The good news is we have half a million people coming here that are going to find work,” he said. “The bad news is, if they can’t get to work, it’s going to be kind of tough. Right now, we do not have a transportation investment plan for the state of Washington at the same time people are grounded in congestion.”

Inslee said that environmental stewardship will also play a vital role in the state’s future.

“Protecting our air and water from pollution, and protecting our farms and forests from the threats they now face from climate change, and protecting our oyster industry from ocean acidification, that is now 30 percent more acidic than pre-industrial times, these are all economic development strategies to make sure this is a great place to live and we can keep bringing talent here,” he said.

Inslee said that coal burning that takes place anywhere in the world has negative impacts on Puget Sound and Hood Canal.

“It will make Puget Sound 100 percent more acidic than it was before George Vancouver showed up on Restoration Point at Bainbridge Island in 1792 unless we join the Navy to start greening our energy economy,” he said. “We are very dedicated to doing that and I’m confident we can do this.”