A Pathway Ahead For Education Funding

Greetings!

Welcome to my blog. I created this as a way to communicate directly with you.

This is one of my first blog posts as superintendent. I’ve chosen a blog because this message is complex, and a normal press release typically stays away from complexities. Please share it with colleagues, friends, and anyone you think might be interested.

— Chris


For more than a decade, Washington state has been embroiled in an education funding debate. Five years ago, the state Supreme Court ruled in McCleary v. Washington that the state wasn’t meeting its constitutional duty on basic education funding.

Since then, funding has increased significantly. During the next four years, our state’s public education system will see a net increase of about $5.6 billion. Statewide, that averages to nearly an 18 percent increase in funding per student (from maintenance level funding).

But as I noted when the Legislature passed the 2017–19 operating budget at the end of June, more work is required.

Last week, a number of organizations and school districts filed “friend-of-the-court” briefs in response to a report outlining progress made on basic education funding issued by the state.

Article III of our state constitution lists the superintendent of public instruction as a member of the state’s executive department. I firmly believe it is inappropriate for an executive department officer to sue the state, or to be party to a lawsuit against the state, or to engage in court filings that use taxpayer resources and state employee time in litigation pitting one state agency against another.

That’s why the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) did not file a friend-of-the-court brief. In my first act as superintendent of public instruction, I ended OSPI’s involvement in a lawsuit against seven school districts. I do believe, however, that it is appropriate for groups with standing to continue with the case. As we have done in the past, OSPI will work with all parties to provide any needed data.

A number of district officials have told my team and me that the new operating budget may not be as beneficial as the state’s analysis shows for their respective districts.

In their analyses of their budget outlooks, though, districts may be working with a different set of assumptions than the state. For example, only districts would know the detailed impacts of long-term levy assumptions and locally determined cost drivers.

It appears that most of the adverse impacts predicted by some school districts involve a reduction of local levy capacity and the removal of a “staff mix” factor that ensured state funding followed teachers based on their experience level. At a minimum, the Legislature will have to re-examine these policies during the 2018 legislative session.

Special education funding also remains an area of concern. While it is possible that the Legislature has fully funded the existing formulas, I worry that the formulas themselves are inadequate to ensure the full civil rights protections owed to students with disabilities.

In May, I put forward a six-year vision for public education in Washington. The Legislature has already made meaningful progress on the plan, but more work needs to be done:

1) begin dual language acquisition in grades K-8,

2) redesign the K-12 system to provide more instructional time,

3) provide universal early learning access, and

4) build more meaningful pathways for all students to graduate career- and college-ready.


By focusing on bipartisan solutions, the Legislature achieved a great deal this legislative session:

1) increased overall funding;

2) increased targeted funding for career and technical education, special education, highly capable programs, learning assistance programs, and more; and

3) gave students more flexibility to meet their graduation requirements.

Those accomplishments occurred when legislators on both sides of the aisle put aside differences and united in the name of public education. I look forward to working with policymakers, educators, and advocacy groups in the coming months to build the next step in education funding and policy changes.

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The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction

Written by

Led by Supt. Chris Reykdal, OSPI is the primary agency charged with overseeing K–12 education in Washington state.

WA Superintendent Chris Reykdal

In November 2016, Chris was elected as Washington’s 16th state superintendent. His goals are to build broad coalitions that will close opportunity gaps for students, expand career and technical education opportunities, & decrease our reliance on standardized tests.

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