This week marks the third week of the 2016 legislative session. The biggest issue facing this 60-day short session is what lawmakers will do to address the State Supreme Court’s 2012 McCleary ruling that the Legislature was not meeting its constitutional obligation to fully fund basic education. Last fall, the State Supreme Court found the Legislature in contempt for not making more progress on this critical issue and imposed a $100,000 per day fine until this issue is addressed. So it’s definitely on the front burner in Olympia.

Early signs, however, are that the front burner is not churning out much heat. A working group of the Governor’s office and key legislators has released a proposal for an Educational Funding Task Force to examine important questions regarding basic education funding, including employee compensation and benefits, by far the largest basic education expense in any school district.

While this is important work and needs to be done well, numerous studies and plans already exist, including comprehensive ones done by and for the Legislature in recent years. Updating them is a good idea; starting over is not. With each passing year, the dysfunctions of the current funding system get worse and more expensive to fix. More importantly, the students in our schools today are not getting the support they are entitled to by our State Constitution, rulings of the State Supreme Court, and commitments already made by the Legislature to fix and improve the current system.

Improving student academic achievement and eliminating the opportunity gap require having the best teachers, administrators and support staff in our schools. That means retaining highly skilled professionals and recruiting the best and brightest into the profession and supporting their ongoing growth and development.

Because the Legislature has been systematically under-funding these needs, our districts have grown increasingly reliant on local levy money to cover these expenses. This is not what levies were created to do. Local levy dollars should be used as intended to support locally determined enhancements and specific needs above and beyond the basic education responsibilities of the state.

Fixing this problem will require the Legislature to recognize the true cost of adequately compensating public school employees—teachers and support staff alike. Similarly, the state must step up to fund the true cost of classrooms and other learning facilities.

Lawmakers have committed to all-day kindergarten and lower class sizes, especially in K-3, as strategies to improve student outcomes. This will require more classrooms than we currently have available to implement these worthwhile policies. Allowing voters to consider a constitutional amendment that would approve school district bond issues by a simple majority, rather than the current 60 percent super-majority, should be a part of this fix.
Over too many years, an inequitable education system has emerged, with the quality of local schools driven not only by the passion and skill of local educators and the hard work of students and families, but also by the size of the local tax base. Northshore has benefited over the years through the ongoing generosity and support of this community to fund quality, world-class public schools. By fulfilling its obligation to fund basic education, the Legislature can address existing inequities and relieve local taxpayers from funding the state’s basic education responsibilities through local tax measures.

These are critical issues that matter to the 21,000 students in our schools today and the thousands more who will enter our schools in the coming year. The time for action is now.

Larry Francois is the Northshore School District superintendent.