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Editorial: Editorial: Class-size mandate doesn’t add up

Wed., March 30, 2016

The problem with well-meaning proposals is that they sometimes conflict with each other in ways that aren’t foreseen. Sometimes the impacts are seen, but the public dismisses the warnings.

Welcome to the scramble to provide enough classroom space to satisfy the public’s desire for smaller class sizes.

Nobody is against smaller class sizes in theory, but many people are against raising taxes to make it a reality. Initiative 1351 called for smaller class sizes for all grades between kindergarten and 12th. It did not supply a funding source for the $2 billion needed to get started. For this reason, virtually every editorial board recommended a no vote. Legislators cringed. The public voted yes.

But voters also wanted a supermajority requirement to raise taxes, and they turned down a couple of income tax initiatives, even one that would’ve only affected the rich. They also approved of an initiative that limits property tax increases to 1 percent a year, down from 6 percent.

In addition, they voted for more spending in the form of an annual cost-of-living increase for teachers and for a previous class-size initiative.

To paraphrase a song from “Sesame Street,” some of these things don’t belong with the others.

When discordant initiatives pass, it’s up to legislators to find a way to make them sing. Sometimes, they just have to hit the mute button, as lawmakers did when setting aside the previous class-size initiative.

In the case of I-1351, lawmakers decided to limit the reductions to K-3 classrooms, because research shows that’s where it would do the most good. Research also shows that smaller classes can help close the achievement gap, meaning they’re more effective at poorer schools. But the initiative didn’t provide that sort of flexibility. It said to reduce them at all schools.

That’s another problem with government by initiative. It doesn’t allow for strategic, surgical fixes. The whole body is operated on, even the parts that aren’t broken.

And so here we are today trying to figure how to meet the 17-1 student-teacher ratio for classes K-3.

Spokane Public Schools is planning on a 21-1 ratio based on the $145 million bond passed by voters in 2015. The district is waiting for the state to provide the necessary funding to meet the 17-1 ratio. It’s either that or ask local voters whether they want to raise their property tax rate.

In a perfect scenario, that question would’ve been posed when I-1351 was first proposed. Disconnecting the funding from the idea was politically smart, but it only delayed the day of reckoning.

Smaller class sizes means more classrooms and more teachers, about 15,000 more. The K-3 cost is an estimated $700 million, and the state is offering only $200 million in grants.

Meanwhile, lawmakers haven’t figured out how to raise the large sum needed to finish meeting their constitutional mandate to fully fund basic education. They also haven’t solved the teacher shortage problem.

To say that I-1351 was ill-timed and ill-considered is an understatement. The math doesn’t lie. It’s elementary.

To respond to this editorial online, go to www.spokesman.com and click on “Opinion.”