Should court end contempt order on school funding or force compliance?
OLYMPIA -- The Legislature made great progress in increasing the money spent on public schools and a contempt order by the state Supreme Court should be dissolved, the attorney general's office said today.
"The state has now taken concrete action that demonstrates real and measurable progress," the motion filed by senior Assistant Attorney General David Stolier says.
But attorneys for the plaintiffs in the landmark court case that found the Legislature was shirking its constitutional duty to make the education of the state's children its "paramount duty" said not enough has been done and the contempt order should remain. They want the court to "fish or cut bait" on their previous ruling.
"Either stand up and enforce Washington schoolchildren's positive constitutional right to an amply funded education or sit down and confess it was only kidding when it assured Washington schoolchildren that this Court would vigilantly protect them from the government's violation of their constitutional rights," the motion by attorney Thomas Ahearne says.
The attorney general's office argues the Legislature came up with money for maintenance, supplies and transportation, as well as all-day kindergarten and smaller class sizes for kindergarten through third grade. It also provided money for a wide range of other public school programs. Although it didn't come up with a solution to a problem with state and local property tax levies, it "took steps to address the complicated issues" involved in that problem, state attorneys said.
But claims of a historic increase in funding for public schools don't mean the Legislature is complying with the order to meet its constitutional duty, Ahearne said. Although it increased spending by $1.3 billion that was less than the initial estimate of money needed to maintain the status quo and leaves much of the expense of improved schools until the 2016-17 school year. The court ordered steady, real and measurable progress, and the Legislature didn't achieve that, he said.
The court is expected to rule later this summer on whether the Legislature made enough progress on improved spending on public schools to lift the contempt order.