By Rachel La Corte
The Associated Press
OLYMPIA, Wash. — With less than an hour to spare, Gov. Jay Inslee signed a new two-year $43.7 billion state operating budget in time to avoid a partial government shutdown.
His signature came after rapid voting Friday in the Legislature the same day details of the budget were publicly released. The Senate approved the measure on a 39-10 vote, followed by the House’s 70-23 vote.
The budget spends $1.8 billion on K-12 public schools over the next two years. That investment is part of a $7.3 billion hike over four years designed to satisfy a state Supreme Court ruling that the state had not adequately funded basic education.
The budget also adds $618 million for public employee collective bargaining and pay and $102 million in mental health spending.
Inslee signed the bill surrounded by a large bipartisan group of lawmakers from the House and Senate.
“I believe this budget at long last will meet our constitutional obligations to fully and fairly fund basic education,” he said.
The plan is paid for with a mix of revenue. The statewide property tax per $1,000 of assessed value increases from $1.89 to $2.70, with the increase being earmarked for education. That rate — expected to bring in $6.6 billion over the next four years — has $1.6 billion of that coming in the next two years.
The plan also keeps in place local property tax levies but caps them beginning in 2019 at a lower level and requires they be used for programs that supplement basic education.
“Constitutionally, the property tax is what funds our public education system,” said Republican Sen. John Braun, one of the key budget negotiators. “We worked very hard to make sure it’s balanced so that there’s not a huge weight on one part of the state.”
House Democratic budget negotiators said that while the increase in some districts, including Seattle, is causing some of their caucus angst, it was the best solution they could agree to.
Legislative leaders said the budget complies with a 2012 state Supreme Court ruling that they must meet the state’s constitutional requirement to fully fund the state’s basic education system. Lawmakers have already put more than $2 billion toward the issue since the ruling, but the biggest piece remaining of the court order is figuring out how much the state must provide for teacher salaries.
School districts currently pay a big chunk of those salaries with local property-tax levies.
The court has said that the state has until Sept. 1, 2018, to do that, but that the details — including funding — must be in place before the Legislature adjourns this year.
Lawmakers — who started their regular 105-day legislative session in January — had to go into three overtime sessions to reach agreement.
Even though the operating budget is done, lawmakers still need to address the capital budget that deals with projects across the state. That budget has been held up by a dispute over a legislative fix to a water ruling. Legislative leaders acknowledged they may need additional time this month to finish work on that.
