By DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP
The Associated Press
SEATTLE — Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn said Tuesday the Legislature can find some of the money it needs to answer the state Supreme Court’s McCleary decision about education funding by transferring local levy dollars into the state general fund.
Dorn made this suggestion Tuesday at a news conference on his ideas for the state education budget.
He called on the Legislature to add $2.2 billion in new dollars to state education spending, well above the budget plans proposed so far from the state Senate and House.
Like the legislative proposals, his plan includes money for all-day kindergarten, smaller classes and more money for teacher salaries and classroom support.
He also wants to reform the state levy system — something lawmakers also are working on.
The state Supreme Court has said the state’s reliance on local levy dollars to pay for basic education is unconstitutional because levies are not a stable, sustainable source of money for education and aren’t uniform across the state.
The Washington Education Association has estimated that districts across the state spent $1.6 billion in levy dollars during the 2013-14 school year on the salaries of teachers and other school employees.
Those dollars are part of basic education.
Lawmakers expect to announce their own plans later this week for what to do about local levies.
Dorn also recommended partially funding class-size reductions in all grades — not just kindergarten through third grade as lawmakers would do — but giving school districts until 2021 to complete the class-size reductions voters approved in November.
Dorn has said the Legislature isn’t doing enough to make sure the state fully pays for basic education by the 2018 deadline set by the state Supreme Court.
