Population
According to official figures published in the Washington State’s Data Site, the State had a population of 6,882,400 residents on April 1, 2013. But to describe the population of Washington we must use the figures published after the 2010 United States Census, which showed a population of 6,724,540 residents.
According to the 2010 Census, the population of the State grew by 830,419 compared to 2000 [11] . Washington’s 14.1 percent increase from 2000 to 2010 was the slowest growth rate the state has experienced in five decades.
Yet Washington grew at a faster rate than the nation as a whole, ranking the 13th most populous state in the US, up from 15th in 2000. The new figures, pulled from the tally from the 2010 Bureau of the Population Census, also showed that Washington became a more diversified state in the last decade. The state’s Hispanic and Asian populations grew faster. Washington’s growing diversity was seen across the state. According to Census Bureau data, the state’s non-Hispanic white population was 72.5 percent of the total in 2010 – up from nearly 80 percent in 2000.
The fastest growing minority populations over the past decade were Hispanics (which grew by 314,281, or 71.2 percent), followed by Asia (which grew to 156,233, or 48.9 percent), and Multiracial (which grew to 71,427, or 40.6 percent). The distribution of the population between the West and East of Washington has not changed with the division, it maintains the same 78/22 percentage of the year 2000.
Education
Washington’s first school was founded in 1832, in Vancouver, built for the education of the children of employees of the Hudson’s Bay Company. The state instituted a public system of education in 1895. Currently, all educational institutions in Washington must follow certain rules and patterns dictated by the Washington State Board of Education. This council directly controls the state’s public school system, which is divided into several school districts. See topschoolsintheusa for high school codes in Washington.
Washington schools get most of their funding from the state government. Every two years, the state legislature passes a budget that tells schools how much money they will get for their expenses and for various programs. School districts raise the rest of the money for schools by asking local voters to approve fees for education. Rates are local property taxes for schools. Those local fees often make up 15-20% of the school district’s budget.
Currently in the State there are 9 educational service districts in which there are 295 school districts and in each school district there is an elected school council [15] . Voters in each community elect members of the school council. School board members hire and supervise the Superintendent, develop local educational laws and regulations (called board or district policies), and approve the district’s budget and academic programs. The state legislature also makes laws and regulations that school districts must follow.
According to statistics from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Washington’s governing body for education, there are more than 2,300 schools in the state with about 1.04 million students and more than 53,600 teachers. The budget granted for the period 2011-13 was $ 13.78 billion annually [16] .
Washington’s first library was built in 1853 in the current state capital, Olympia. Currently, Washington has 65 public library systems, which annually move an average of 9.6 books per resident.
Washington’s first institution of higher education, the University of Washington, was opened in 1861. Currently, Washington has 78 institutions of higher education, of which 45 are public and 33 are private. Seattle stands out as the largest educational center in the state.
Culture
The official dance in Washington is the square dance, where it became an official dance on April 17, 1979. This is a popular dance with four couples (eight dancers) arranged in a square, with a couple on each side, starting with couple 1 facing off to the music and going to the left until reaching couple 4. Couples 1 and 3 are known as the head, while pairs 2 and 4 are next to it. Each dance begins and ends in each sequence with “games-in-order” in the training plaza. The dance was first described in the 17th century in England. It has become an important dance in the United States of America due to its historical development in that country, to the point that it can be considered as the typical popular dance of the country. In addition to Washington, it is also official in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah,and Virginia.
Nirvana, prominent grunge group from the city of Aberdeen in the state of Washington.
The popular state song is the famous ballad Roll On Columbia, Roll On , written by Woody Guthrie to seek more public power for the Bonneville Administration in the early 1940s. The Washington State Legislature approved this song as the official state folk song in 1987.
Seattle, the largest city in the State of Washington and the largest in the Pacific Northwest, is considered an important nucleus of culture within the United States, being the home of grunge because the most influential bands of this genre have originated there, such as Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Mudhoney, Soundgarden among others, is also a regional center for the performing arts and is famous for its centuries Orchestra Seattle Symphony, the Seattle Opera and Ballet of the Pacific Northwest. The PNB School (founded in 1974) is one of America’s top three ballet training institutions, and the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra is the nation’s largest youth symphony organization.
