How are Washington legislators like third graders? (No cheap shots, please.)
Now that their year is over, a report card will determine whether they can pass ahead or must instead repeat and improve their work.
That report card will be issued by the Supreme Court of Washington, which in 2012 upheld the ruling in the so-called McCleary case that the Legislature had failed in its paramount duty to consistently provide local school districts with the means to fully fund basic education. And in the three-plus years since the high court’s opinion, justices have become increasingly impatient, going so far as to hold the Legislature in contempt last fall.
Now that the Legislature has adjourned and the 2015-17 budgets are set, will lawmakers get a passing mark, or be sent to the equivalent of the principal’s office? A draft report card issued last week makes it seem likely that the best they can hope for is an “incomplete.”
In 39 pages, the draft “2015 Report to the Washington State Supreme Court” outlines $2.9 billion in additional spending on K-12 public education, bringing the total outlay to $18.2 billion for the biennium. Of that increase, $1.3 billion goes to program enhancements, with another $618 million set aside for state-funded pay raises.