By MICHAEL SOLTMAN
This time two years ago, many on Vashon and across the state were celebrating the McCleary decision, a huge step toward reforming education funding in our state. However, since then, lawmakers have let us down. Little progress has been made to turn around the state’s record of insufficient funding for schools, much less to make up for the drastic cuts to education that we suffered during the recession.
While we at the Vashon Island School District hold out hope that those in Olympia will eventually act to adequately fund schools, it’s clear that local levies such as VISD’s Maintenance and Operations Levy, which is currently up for renewal on the Feb. 11 ballot, are just as vital as ever to providing our students a quality education.
McCleary v. State is the most important court case in decades for Washington public school students and for the future of education here. Faced with a state system that failed to fully fund even the most basic elements of a quality, 21st century education, the Network for Excellence in Washington Schools (NEWS) filed a lawsuit in 2007 asking the courts to order the State of Washington to live up to its constitutional duty to make ample provision for the education of all children.
In January of 2012, the state Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the state Legislature was violating the constitutional rights of children by failing to live up to its “paramount duty” to amply fund the education of all K through 12 students. The court ordered the legislature to make steady, real and measurable progress each year and to fully fund public education by 2018.
During the McCleary trial, the state assured the court that the 2009 Education Funding Reform Act was the promise that K through 12 public education will be fully funded by 2018. The court took the strong step of retaining jurisdiction over the case after it issued its ruling, stating, “What we have learned from experience is that this court cannot stand on the sidelines and hope the State meets its constitutional mandate to amply fund education.”
The court ordered the state to demonstrate and report on its progress every year. NEWS, now a coalition of 428 education organizations, including the Vashon Island School District, also monitors progress.
This January, the court once again admonished the Legislature to provide school districts the billions of dollars in additional funding that the state’s own studies have confirmed are needed to remedy decades of underfunding. The court stated, “It is incumbent upon the State to demonstrate, through immediate, concrete action, that it is making real and measurable progress, not just promises” to fulfill its “paramount duty” to amply fund the education of all K through 12 students.
The court ordered the state to submit a detailed plan no later than April 30 that includes full funding of the 2009 Education Funding Reform Act, projected to require $2 billion each year in new funding by 2018.
Legislators currently claim that the 2013-2015 operating budget includes a $982 million basic education enhancement appropriated in the 2013 session. However, the “funding enhancement” in this budget fails to take into account the billions of dollars in reductions for public education over the past several years. Here on Vashon, this year’s funding enhancement provides less than we received in 2008 by an average of $131 per student. The court also chastised the legislators’ claim by stating, “The State cannot realistically claim to have made significant progress” when 2013-15 funds appropriated are “only a modest 6.7% above the current funding levels that violate the constitution.”
For example, school bus transportation remains dramatically underfunded. The court declared “even more troubling” the Legislature’s lack of progress toward fully funding essential materials, supplies and operations costs, falling hundreds of millions of dollars short of being on track to meet the 2018 deadline.
The court also called the state’s lack of progress on staff salaries “deeply troubling” and stated further, “State funding of educator and administrator salaries remains constitutionally inadequate. The inescapable fact is that salaries for educators in Washington are no better now than when this case went to trial.”
I have high regard for our own Sen. Sharon Nelson’s hard work and commitment to funding schools here on Vashon and across the state. I remain deeply troubled, however, by the current state Senate Majority Coalition leadership’s claims of real funding progress and the questioning of the court’s authority to monitor progress on the McCleary decision. I urge Vashon citizens to stay involved in the legislative process, to support our representatives and to continue to demand that the Legislature fulfill its constitutional duty to fully fund education.
With the Washington Supreme Court’s vigilant oversight, and continued advocacy by our school community and others throughout the State, we hope to see continued progress toward full State funding of our schools by 2018.
Until then, we must preserve the quality of our educational programs and services. Vashon has a long tradition of supporting its schools, and we must continue to act locally to ensure that our schools remain adequately funded through local levies and school sponsorship organizations. I urge you to support our Maintenance and Operations Levy, which represents 23 percent of our annual operating budget, by mailing your ballot by Feb. 11. I deeply appreciate your understanding and your continuing support and trust.
— Michael Soltman is the superintendent of the Vashon Island School District.
