SEQUIM — State Superintendent Randy Dorn told Sequim school staff members he wants them to know he is going to bat for teachers.
“I am going to swing the bat as hard as I can,” he said Wednesday morning while addressing about 200 Sequim School District staff members in the high school auditorium.
Dorn said public school teachers face limited resources and inadequate wages.
He was in town to cheer on the staff as part of the district’s employee back-to-school day, held in advance of the resumption of classes Tuesday.
Following the speech, Dorn traveled to the Chimacum School District to meet with district administration and Stephanie McCleary.
McCleary, a Sequim native and Chimacum parent and district human resources director, was the lead plaintiff in a state Supreme Court decision in 2012 directing the Legislature to fund basic public education.
“I am chatting with a couple board members, the McCleary family and the superintendent,” Dorn said before he left Sequim.
During his presentation, Dorn spoke about overcoming challenges and working together as a team to improve educational outcomes of students.
“We are going through a lot of changes as a nation and [with] technology, and the one thing we have to do is we have to work together — everybody in education — and we have to work with our community,” he said.
Dorn said education “is still about relationships. It is still about giving kids a foundation so they have the ability to learn” now and as adults.
It shouldn’t be that students are “learning to pass a test” but to better themselves, he said.
“My whole mission is that kids should try to concentrate somewhat on challenge, interest [and] aptitude so they get the education training to do what they like to do so they enjoy their life.”
Dorn took a moment following his speech to discuss the implications the McCleary decision would have on school districts in Clallam and Jefferson counties, noting it could help districts with smaller tax bases become more competitive with districts in wealthier areas.
In the ruling, justices ruled lawmakers were not meeting their constitutional responsibility to fully pay for basic K-12 education and relying too much on local tax-levy dollars to balance the education budget.
In response to the McCleary decision, $1.3 billion was earmarked in the state budget by legislators for K-12 education.
As a result, Sequim School District employees will see a 3 percent cost-of-living allowance in their paychecks this year, Brian Lewis, Sequim School District business manager, has said.
What the McCleary decision means “going forward is you’d have an equalized base,” Dorn said.
“It is not giving [richer districts] more money; it is trying to get [poorer districts] up so we can pay a competitive wage” to teachers.
Rich districts “can pay an extra $10,000 to $15,000 per teacher” over poor districts, he said.
“That is the big issue: the ability to recruit quality teachers so everybody gets a quality education, and retaining them.”
Dorn wants to lead a “department that actually helps,” he said.
Educators “need to know that the person that is the head of the educational agency understands where they are coming from and understands their struggles and has an understanding for what they do and how difficult their job is — but also that there is hope, that we are doing great things,” he said.
He noted that the statewide high school graduation rate has increased by 6 percent to 81.5 percent over the past six years.
“We are over 80 percent for the first time, but that still means one 1 of 5 isn’t graduating,” he said.
“We would love to get up to 90 percent, but that next 10 percent — it will take more resources for those kids because they have more barriers, and it will take more individual help, which takes more resources.”
And even though the state is “42nd in the nation for funding, we are [about] 14th in academic performance,” he said.
“We are getting the best bang for our buck in the nation,” and teachers “are doing quality things. You should be proud of what you do.”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
