As lawmakers prepare to begin a 105-day legislative session in Olympia today, one of their main issues will be to show the Washington Supreme Court that the Legislature is making measurable progress toward improving the way the state pays for public education.
Most agree that the Legislature needs to find about $1 billion for a down payment on the estimated $4 billion needed to pay the full cost of basic education, including recent reforms such as all-day kindergarten and class-size reduction.
In its decision on the lawsuit brought by a coalition of school districts, parents and education groups — known as the McCleary case for the family named in the suit — the Supreme Court ruled the state is not meeting its constitutional obligation concerning education funding.
Lawmakers this past week said they intend to dig up the cash to fulfill their obligation to the court, but they emphasized that the McCleary decision is not just about money.
“Every independent study shows if you want results, money alone won’t be the answer, reform alone won’t be the answer,” said state Sen. Ed Murray, the Senate Democratic leader.
Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos, D-Seattle and chair of the House Education Committee, said her committee will concentrate on improving education for the kids of Washington, not just on the McCleary case.
“My focus will be on improving our public school system statewide, so that all students will be able to receive the education they deserve,” Santos said.
Santos said she expected her committee would consider bills on closing education opportunity gaps. She wants to consider the support the state is giving to kids for whom English was not their first language.
She would like to see more training for all teachers who work with kids who are just learning English, not just for teachers in special classrooms. And she wants to take another look at creative solutions for helping Native American kids who are struggling in school.
Another education policy area that is likely to get some attention this session is a collection of programs that fall under the description of Alternative Learning Experiences.
Currently, school districts are required to lump together for administrative reasons all their online learning, homeschooling and alternative programs like classes designed to bring dropouts back into the system.
Rep. Kathy Haigh, D-Shelton, said it’s time to split these programs up and track the students separately.
A series of school district audits across the state reinforced the need for taking a closer look at what constitutes Alternative Learning Experiences, because so many districts seem to have difficulty keeping track of all the programs under one heading.
Haigh, chair of the House appropriations subcommittee on education, said she doesn’t think anyone is trying to take financial advantage. “We’ve really got to look at the rules,” she said.
Sen. Steve Litzow, R-Mercer Island, the new chair of the Senate Education Committee, said he’s also interested in considering more than the money of the McCleary decision.
“Yes, we need to put more money in the system, but we don’t have unlimited money,” he said. “We have to start doing things differently.”
Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn would like lawmakers to take up two additional issues this year: decreasing the burden of statewide graduation tests and changing the charter school law to put his agency in charge of the process.
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