By Paige Dickerson
Peninsula Daily News
and The Associated Press
The state of Washington is not fulfilling its constitutional duty to fully pay for basic public education, a King County judge decided Thursday in a ruling favoring a coalition spearheaded by Chimacum Superintendent Mike Blair.
The decision from Superior Court Judge John Erlick came after nearly two months of testimony last fall in a lawsuit brought by Network for Excellence in Washington Schools, a coalition of school districts, parents, teachers and community leaders that included Chimacum and 29 other public school districts.
They said the state was failing its constitutional duty and leaving school districts to rely on local levies, donations and PTA fundraisers to educate students.
The state disagreed, saying it does meet its constitutional duty.
Erlick acknowledged the state’s efforts at reforming the way it pays for education and encouraged lawmakers to continue that.
But he said he based his decision on a state Supreme Court ruling from 30 years ago which found the state must amply provide for basic education.
Relying so heavily on local levies fails that standard, he said.
Blair, as president of the coalition that brought the lawsuit, was pleased with the judge’s decision.
“He ruled everything we asked for,” said Blair, who will retire at the end of the school year as superintendent of Chimacum School District, which educates more than 1,000 students.
“There was a gasp in the courtroom as he affirmed that ample funding means ample funding and paramount duty means paramount duty,” Blair added.
“We could not have asked for anything more.”
A lawyer for the state said he expected both sides would find something to appeal in Erlick’s decision.
Assistant Attorney General Bill Clark emphasized, however, that the decision whether to appeal would be made by the attorney general, the governor and the state Legislature.
The Legislature has committed to reform the way it pays for basic education by 2018.
The judge did not set a specific timeline for reform but urged the Legislature to proceed with real and measurable progress to establish the cost of basic education and find a stable way to pay for it.
One of the named plaintiffs in the case, Stephanie McCleary — who is a parent of two Chimacum School District students — said 2018 isn’t soon enough for reforms if her two children, ages 16 and nearly 11, are to benefit, but she expressed hope that things would be better for her grandchildren.
“As long as we put children first . . . our future looks a lot brighter,” she said.
The state’s constitution states that it is the paramount duty of the Legislature to amply fund education.
Blair said that he hopes the Legislature moves faster than the 2018 date.
“The judge said they need to follow the constitution, and they have been perennially underfunding it,” he said.
“I don’t know how long it will take but we have been waiting a very long time — since the 1970s — so hopefully they will step up to the plate and meet the requirements.”
Erlick said the state does not provide enough money to give every child a chance to meet the state’s essential learning requirements.
Instead, the state depends on “funding formulas” that do not correlate with the actual cost to teach the state’s 1 million children, he wrote.
“The court is left with no doubt that under the State’s current financing system the State is failing in its constitutional duty to make ample provision for the education of all children,” the judge said.
“This court is convinced that basic education is not being funded by a stable and dependable source of funds provided by the state.”
Thomas Ahearne, an attorney representing the coalition, welcomed the decision. He said he was not surprised and was particularly pleased the judge agreed with his team’s main arguments.
“The devil’s really in the details,” he said, after hearing Erlick’s oral presentation but before reading the judge’s written decision.
Clark said he wasn’t disappointed in all of Erlick’s ruling. He was happy the judge acknowledged the reform work already being done in the Legislature.
“We’re happy that he’s letting that process continue,” Clark said.
Much of the testimony Erlick heard focused on how much it costs to run a school district, whether the state is meeting its obligations, whether student achievement is connected to school funding, and whether the Legislature’s attempts at school reform have been adequate.
The judge’s ruling offered a moral as well as legal perspective.
“Society will ultimately pay for these students. The state will pay for their education now or society will pay for them later through unemployment, welfare or incarceration,” Erlick wrote.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
