OLYMPIA — The Washington Supreme Court ruled today that the state isn’t meeting its constitutional obligation to amply pay for basic public education, but the justices gave an endorsement to the reform work the Legislature has already started.
The 85-page opinion said, however, that the judiciary would keep an eye on lawmakers to make sure they fully implement education reforms by 2018.
“The court cannot idly stand by as the legislature makes unfulfilled promises for reform,” Justice Debra Stephens wrote in the majority opinion. She notes that deadlines for reforms keep getting moved back and if left up to the Legislature, the court expects the delays would continue.
Lawmakers, who convene next week for a 60-day session, will also need to focus on what to do about a nearly billion dollar budget shortfall.
A coalition of school districts, parents, teachers and community groups won a lawsuit in King County Superior Court in February 2010. Judge John Erlick ruled the state was violating its constitution by not fully paying for basic education.
The state appealed, saying Erlick reached beyond the high court’s previous ruling on this issue in 1978.
The Supreme Court held a lively public hearing on the case at the end of June. Many of their questions concerned whether the Legislature had made any progress lately in improving the way the state pays for education.
In the strongly worded conclusion of the ruling issued Thursday, the court outlines the ways the Legislature has failed to meet its obligations by talking about reform but cutting school funding at the same time.
The court does not lay out a plan for maintaining that oversight, and Stephens acknowledges that work won’t be easy.
“While we recognize that the issue is complex and no option may prove wholly satisfactory, this is not a reason for the judiciary to throw up its hands and offer no remedy at all,” she wrote.
When reached for comment late this morning, local superintendents applauded the decision but were anxious to learn more about the decision. “The one thing I know is it will be very challenging for the legislature to address the Supreme Court decision given our economic climate,” said Tom Opstad, superintendent of the Aberdeen School District. “But, I also believe it is important to recognize the state is not meeting it’s constitutional requirement as defined by the Supreme Court.”
Howard King, superintendent of Elma School District, wasn’t shocked by the decision. “At first glance, it doesn’t surprise me. I think there have been some serious questions for years about the funding methods, and hopefully this will force people in our state to take a real critical look at what we are doing and what resources are needed to continue the work we are doing,” King said.
In Hoquiam, Mike Parker also concurred. “The decision isn’t a surprise for us closest to public education, we knew for decades, actually. So it just reinforces what the practitioners always believed,” said the superintendent for the Hoquiam School District. “The old funding formula hasn’t kept pace with the requirements in public education today,” Parker said, pointing to technology, transportation and safety issues that haven’t been addressed.
In a partial dissent, Chief Justice Barbara Madsen disagreed with the majority on the issue of who should make sure the court’s decision is carried out.
“We have done our job; now we must defer to the legislature for implementation,” she wrote, noting the Supreme Court set a precedence of having the Legislature do this work when it ruled in a 1978 decision on a similar case.
“The means of compliance are firmly within the realm of legislative power,” Madsen wrote. She said the majority claims that the judiciary will “facilitate progress” by maintaining authority over the case but then fails to say how it will do that.
