A special Washington legislative committee has approved a report telling the state Supreme Court they believe they have finally met the justices’ order to improve education.
The panel is commonly referred to as the McCleary committee after the name of the lead plaintiffs in the case resulting in the 2012 ruling that the state wasn’t meeting its constitutional duty on public education. The panel has since filed a yearly report on what it has done – or been unable to do – to meet that duty.
The report will be included with a legal brief from the Washington attorney general’s office that argues the state has fully complied with the order.
Attorneys for the families who filed the suit could object, and in the past the court has brought both sides to hear arguments before issuing its ruling.
Last year, the Legislature passed a series of reforms to school salary schedules, the way the state pays for special education as well as bilingual, highly capable, and career programs, and revised the property tax system. The court approved of the program changes, but not the decision to delay by one year the full salary increases for school employees.
This year, the Legislature came up with the money for the full raises, as well as a new formula for special education money, thanks largely to higher than expected tax revenues. It also set aside $105 million in a special account to cover the penalty the court assessed in 2015 when the Legislature failed to comply with an order. That money will be spent on salaries and special education.
The report shows that Washington was spending $6.6 billion for K-12 education in fiscal year 2010, and will spend $10.3 billion this fiscal year. That amount is projected to grow to $13.7 billion in fiscal 2021. (Spokesman-Review)
