Budget woes shouldn’t block fixing schools

Give them extra credit for perseverance.

A bipartisan batch of legislators keeps plugging away at school reform, despite opposition from the state’s most powerful labor union, an all-consuming budget crisis and indifference from the governor.

Rather than losing support, the lawmakers are gaining it. And even if a bill doesn’t pass this year, the effort is changing the politics surrounding education funding and policy in Washington state.

On the same day that budget writers began releasing two-year spending plans with deep cuts in everything the state pays for, a bill to dramatically change how Washington teaches kids took another step forward.

House Bill 2261 is what is left of sweeping bills that came out of an 18-month study of school funding. The bill still fixes the patchwork method by which state money is doled out to the 296 school districts. Other areas have been weakened – updates to the definition of basic education, new ways to hire and reward teachers, and agreeing to ways to fix failing school districts. But while weakened, they remain.

Also remaining are promises, but not quite commitments, to increase state support for schools to something worthy of the constitutional requirement of “ample provision for … all children residing within its borders.” Fixes to the levy system will have to come from another task force.

The Senate education committee sent the bill forward with little debate. Perhaps that’s because the reforms make sense, because the courts are poised to order the state to fix its system if the Legislature keeps dawdling. Or perhaps it’s because the bill doesn’t really do as much as it once did.

“To get all of the details right, we’ll continue to have to iron this out,” said Sen. Eric Oemig, D-Kirkland. This version tries to satisfy some of the concerns raised very late in the game by Gov. Chris Gregoire. And it tries to close the gap between a House bill that is much more specific.

It remains, as it has for much of the session, a work in progress.

Part of the problem is politics. The Washington Education Association is opposed. And even though the union has isolated itself (every other group – both within the education establishment and outside it – supports the bill), the union still has clout with Democratic leadership and Gregoire.

But a bigger issue is financial. It is hard to focus on the future when getting through the present is in doubt. With budgets being cut, few want to talk about investments to be made when the economy recovers.

“We’re trying to strike a balance between letting the public know of our commitment to be moving forward and realizing the financial situation we face today,” said Sen. Rodney Tom, D-Bellevue.

Oemig speaks of kicking the can forward. But Rep. Skip Priest, a Federal Way Republican who has been one of the forces behind the issue, wonders if that is still worth it.

“If there’s nothing in the can, why kick it forward?” Priest asked.

Sen. Fred Jarrett, a Democrat from Mercer Island, sees opportunity in the crisis. Perhaps the union could be brought on board if the reforms in the bill could be used to win public support for more money for schools.

Some cash would buy back the looming teacher layoffs. Some would begin the transition to more effective and better-supported schools.

“The whole discussion is about money,” Jarrett said. “If you want it, you have to go to the people with money and give them a reason to give it to you.”

But the WEA cannot continue to just say no. Its allies, from President Barack Obama on down to all nine House Democratic freshmen, want real reform. Obama even put $5 billion into the stimulus, but only for states that innovate now, not later. And parents and business people are increasingly impatient with the status quo.

Union leaders and the rank and file members must decide whether to get involved and influence the change or stay opposed and just react to it.

Peter Callaghan: 253-597-8657

peter.callaghan@thenewstribune.com

blogs.thenewstribune.com/politics