In 2012 the Washington state Supreme Court ruled in
the McCleary decision that the state constitution is being violated. K-12 public
schools in Washington are underfunded in direct violation of the state’s constitution
which states that “It
is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within
its borders, without distinction or preference on account of race, color,
caste, or sex.”[1] 2014 found the issue still far
from being resolved and the justices held the state in contempt for failure to
progress with legislation that will fully fund public schools. In 2015 the
court added a $100,000 per day fine against the state. Instead of passing
legislation that would resolve this issue in 2016, Senate Bill 6195 was passed.
This bill set up a task force to make recommendations in the 2017 legislative
session, after collecting data on school salaries and levies. This fine currently
exceeds $55 million. Tom Ahearne, the lead attorney in the
McCleary v.
State of Washington case, spoke on Wednesday, May 3 at the Bellingham High
School Performing Arts Center, and explained that the fine isn’t real money.
The legislature will never actually pay this amount and it is more a symbol of the
weight of the issue and the seriousness of the court’s decision. Ahearne laid
out the possibilities we have in store for us in the near future. If the legislature
fully funds K-12 public education then we all simply move on. If they fail to “amply”
fund education then the courts will need to use a stronger sanction than the moderate
contempt fine. The next sanctions could be closing schools or
threatening to dock legislators’ salaries.
The
court ruling states that the legislature must have fully implemented funding by
September 1, 2018. This means the legislature has until the final adjournment
of the 2017 legislative session, which ends on June 30, 2017. So, the current
legislative session has three weeks to complete a budget that fully funds public
K-12 education in the State of Washington. This is something they have been
unable to do for nearly five years. Check back on June 30, 2017 for an update.
For
more information on this topic, check out:
[1] Article
XI Education
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