The state’s new school budget plan had the best of intentions — fully fund education to ensure students get a solid education regardless of how wealthy their communities are. The Legislature was mandated by the McCleary decision to cut school districts’ reliance on local levies — the funds from which were going to pay teacher salaries and a variety of other programs that some may consider “basic.”

But the potential repercussions from the state’s attempt to give all students an equal playing field are already being seen by local school districts. And the fact is, be it through local levies or donations to local foundations, the money, or lack of, in a community will always find a way into schools.

Locally, the Vashon Island School District and Vashon Schools Foundation have realized that the state’s definition of “basic education” and the island’s do not match up. While the state uses a prototypical funding model that assigns staff based on type and size of schools, Vashon, and many other districts, have hired beyond that model to better serve the needs of students and administrators. For example, the Vashon school district recently hired McMurray Middle School’s first assistant principal, meaning all schools now have a principal and an assistant principal. Sen. Sharon Nelson (D-Maury Island) said the prototypical model doesn’t call for both positions at all schools.

Likewise, the state’s idea of “basic education” doesn’t include full funding for programming such as mental health or special education. On Vashon, special education is funded by the local levy, and mental health programming is funded from donations to the Vashon Schools Foundation. The foundation annually provides Vashon schools with hundreds of thousands of dollars — VSF is hoping to raise $350,000 this year — for everything from curriculum upgrades to racial equity training, and the island is lucky to have it. But for those school districts in lower income communities, a foundation to fund these enhancements may be out of the question. They will always be limited by how much the state can provide. So while limiting local levies may be one step toward true equality in education, the truth is it may never be equal.

Regardless of the wealth of a community, there will always be individuals, parents and community groups passionate about education. When those people are given money to make a difference in what schools can provide their students, any work done by the state to ensure equality becomes null.