Editorial: Patience needed on school funding

It’s fair to be skeptical of the state Legislature’s determination to meet the Supreme Court’s mandate to complete a plan to fully fund basic education, but tossing grenades into the process at this point will needlessly disrupt lawmakers’ homework.

Plus, it would hand fodder to politicians spoiling for a constitutional crisis.

Randy Dorn, the outgoing state superintendent of public instruction, filed a brief with the court on Wednesday suggesting it may be time for the court to close schools to get the Legislature’s attention. Or, he said, the court could punish individual lawmakers, the Seattle Times reported.

The court already has held the Legislature in contempt and began imposing a $100,000-a-day fine last August. The bill was up to $27 million in May, but it would take legislative action to set up the account for that money, and none has been forthcoming.

Meanwhile, the coalition of plaintiffs in the original McCleary lawsuit filed a brief with the court on Tuesday urging it to take unspecified action to enforce its previous orders.

The frustration of the plaintiffs and Dorn is understandable, because it’s been four years since the court ruled the state wasn’t meeting its constitutional duty to fully fund basic education.

It’s clear that the Legislature has moved too slowly, but it’s not accurate to claim that it hasn’t moved at all.

Over the past four years the Legislature has poured an additional $4.5 billion into education, including full funding for transportation, full-day kindergarten and materials, supplies and other costs. Lawmakers also have begun funding class-size reduction for K-3 students.

Teacher pay remains the largest funding task yet to accomplish. Most estimates put the need at about $3.5 billion per biennium. As it stands now, pay is partially covered by the state, with local districts coming up with the rest, which causes inequities.

The task of turning teacher pay entirely over to the state is complicated. Should there be regional variation based on cost of living? Should pay be higher in harder-to-recruit-to areas, such as rural districts?

Lawmakers also must accomplish the delicate task of weaning the K-12 system off local levies, as the court has ordered. Part of that challenge is discerning how many levy dollars are funding basic education needs.

An education task force, including Sen. Andy Billig of Spokane, is meeting regularly to sort through these complex matters, so it’s not as if the Legislature is just waiting for the next session to begin.

We certainly agree that all of this activity should have begun long ago, but if the court were to get aggressive now, it could compel a showdown between branches of government and give more recalcitrant legislators an excuse to change the subject.

The wise move is to wait and watch one last time.

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