WA public schools are failing our children. We need a ‘grand bargain’ to fix it | Opinion

The gavels come down next week in Olympia opening Washington’s 2023 legislative session. The Governor and legislative leaders have taken turns laying out their top priorities and goals. They are entitled to their opinions, but our state constitution makes it crystal clear what they are supposed to be focused on: fully funding our schools without the use of local levies.

Sections 1 and 2 of Article lX of the state constitution are explicit: “It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders, without distinction or preference on account of race, color, caste or sex. The legislature shall provide for a general and uniform system of public schools.”

Paramount. Ample. General and uniform. Those are the words our state’s founders used to describe the absolute obligation of the Governor and Legislature to create a statewide system of education that is not reliant on local taxes — ensuring equal opportunity to education. But despite multiple state Supreme Court rulings directing our lawmakers to live up to these words, today school districts across the state are still far too dependent on local levies and bonds.

The state’s public data makes this failure undeniable. Statewide, the average annual per pupil expenditure is $15,699, of which 15% is derived from local funds. That’s the average statewide. Comparing school districts, Bellevue spends $17,215 per pupil, while Orting spends $13,796. Bellevue has 25% more funding for operations than a district like Orting, and the difference is almost entirely due to the availability of local property tax revenue. Meanwhile, in terms of school construction, maintenance and major equipment purchases — including buses — school districts have to rely on the willingness and ability of local property taxpayers to pass construction bonds and maintenance levies, which vary greatly in different parts of the state.

Some kids in our state go to school every day in beautiful new buildings with the latest technology, while others are in old buildings that might not even be seismically safe. Some school districts have local funds available to hire additional staff to meet the needs of students over and above what the state provides, especially in the area of special education, while other districts do not. The quality of a child’s education is impacted by where they live — the exact opposite of what the progressives who wrote our constitution intended.

Here’s the reality of the situation: Meeting the requirements of the constitution would involve tens of billions of dollars and require massive changes in our property tax policies and how we govern our schools. Neither party has the appetite to seriously take this on, and the state Supreme Court has been unwilling to use coercion to enforce their orders. To truly solve this problem — and other problems facing our state — what Washington really needs is a completely redesigned system of state and local government to provide stable funding for basic services and a tax system that is fairer and more equitable. Achieving that would require an agreement among business and labor, liberals and conservatives, and all major state stakeholders. In other words, a grand bargain.

Absent that, to reduce or eliminate the need for local education funding the state has two tools at its disposal. The first is to use general fund surpluses. The legislature could decide to put every available dollar, over and above what is necessary to maintain current programs, into our schools. Second, we can lower local levies while raising the statewide education levy; the so-called “levy swap.” This would provide more revenue and more uniform education funding across the state.

In 2017, the legislature used both these options to a limited degree. After numerous threatening court orders, they finally increased school funding and put some new limits on levies. They made the situation better but did not come close to solving the problem. School districts are still addicted to levy funds, and educational inequity persists. But the legislature and Supreme Court have decided the status quo is good enough.

And that’s the problem. It has always amazed me how few people run for state office who are passionate about education above all other issues.

Until we start sending people to Olympia who are truly focused on doing the hard work of meeting the state’s paramount duty, the words in our constitution will remain just that. Words.

Chris Vance is a former Republican state legislator, King County Council member and State Party Chairman who left the GOP in 2017 and is now a member of the moderate Forward Party. Vance and his wife, Annmarie, live in Sumner.