Supreme Court: State hasn't met its duty to pay for public education

OLYMPIA — The Washington Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the state isn't meeting its constitutional obligation to amply pay for basic public education, but the justices gave an endorsement to the reform work the Legislature has already started.

The 85-page opinion said, however, that the judiciary would keep an eye on lawmakers to make sure they fully implement education reforms by 2018.

"The court cannot idly stand by as the legislature makes unfulfilled promises for reform," Justice Debra Stephens wrote in the majority opinion. She notes that deadlines for reforms keep getting moved back and if left up to the Legislature, the court expects the delays would continue.

The decision was received favorably by officials at Whatcom County school districts that participated in the case.

"The court has confirmed the reality of what our schools live with every day," Bellingham Superintendent Greg Baker said in a prepared statement. With the state falling short of providing the required funds, Baker said, school districts need the levy dollars that come from local property taxes and require voter approval.

Blaine Superintendent Ron Spanjer said his district is becoming increasingly reliant on local revenue sources due to cuts at the state level. The Blaine School District was getting about 67 percent of its funding from the state four years ago, Spanjer said. That figure is down to 62 percent now.

In response, the district is placing a greater burden on local taxpayers. The current levy collects $5.4 million this year. The next levy, if approved in February, would collect more than $6 million in each of the next four years.

Even with the additional levy money, Spanjer anticipates more cuts to basic education programs at Blaine. For the longer term, he is encouraged by the Supreme Court's decision to uphold an appellate court's 2010 ruling.

"It was the right decision. It's absolutely necessary to sustain the quality programs that are in place," he said.

Ferndale Superintendent Linda Quinn said the ruling gave her hope.

"I know this is going to be a tough budget year for schools," Quinn wrote in an email. "However, the decision reaffirms the paramount importance of investing in education."

State lawmakers, who convene next week for a 60-day session, also will need to focus on what to do about a billion-dollar-plus budget shortfall.

The Supreme Court made a point of saying any future cuts to education must be done for educational reasons, not because there is a fiscal crisis.

The court made it clear the Legislature has to pay for education first, before any other state program or financial obligation, said attorney Thomas Ahearne, who represented the coalition of school districts, parents, teachers and community groups who sued the state.

Bellingham Education Association President Shirley Potter, who called the decision "a real victory for public education," said schools need to see results starting this year.

"We need to have something in place by next fall," Potter said, adding that she would favor a tax hike to fund schools, as proposed by Gov. Chris Gregoire.

Stephanie McCleary, the mother of two school-age children whose name was on the lawsuit, was ecstatic about the ruling.

She was 13 years old when the Supreme Court last decided in 1978 that the state was not fulfilling its duty to the children of Washington. McCleary said she was especially pleased that the court plans to keep watch over the Legislature so the situation wouldn't drag on for another 34 years.

"It's a great day for the students in Washington state," McCleary said. "I just couldn't be happier. It's been a long process."

The coalition won a lawsuit in King County Superior Court in February 2010. Judge John Erlick ruled the state was violating its constitution by not fully paying for basic education.

The state appealed, saying Erlick reached beyond the high court's previous ruling on this issue in 1978. Attorney General Rob McKenna said Thursday the state also sought guidance for the Legislature about how to meet its constitutional duty. He called the decision helpful.

In the strongly worded conclusion of the ruling issued Thursday, the court outlines the ways the Legislature has failed to meet its obligations — by talking about reform but cutting school funding at the same time.

The court does not lay out a plan for maintaining that oversight, and Stephens acknowledges that work won't be easy.

"While we recognize that the issue is complex and no option may prove wholly satisfactory, this is not a reason for the judiciary to throw up its hands and offer no remedy at all," she wrote.

Seven justices signed the majority opinion, and two signed a partial dissent.

In the dissent, Chief Justice Barbara Madsen disagreed with the majority on the issue of who should make sure the court's decision is carried out.

"We have done our job; now we must defer to the legislature for implementation," she wrote, noting the Supreme Court set a precedence of having the Legislature do this work when it ruled in a 1978 decision on a similar case.

"The means of compliance are firmly within the realm of legislative power," Madsen wrote. She said the majority claims that the judiciary will "facilitate progress" by maintaining authority over the case but then fails to say how it will do that.

House Speaker Frank Chopp said the priority this legislative session will be to maintain current funding for basic education and then take a look at what should be the next steps in education reform.

Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, said there are valuable education programs outside of the basics that may still be in danger of losing state dollars, including levy equalization, which gives financial help to property-tax poor school districts.

"Simply protecting basic education does not mean there won't be some significant cuts," she said Thursday morning at The Associated Press legislative forum in Olympia.

Brown said the Supreme Court could help out the Legislature by taking a closer look at the constitutionality of a citizen initiative that forces lawmakers to get a two-thirds vote on any tax or fee change.

Gregoire said one of the next steps should be finding a more stable source of money for education in Washington state.

"This ruling reinforces my call for a half-penny sales tax increase to invest in education," she said in a statement, although the ruling does not mention the tax increase.