State Supreme Court Rules State Not Doing its Duty on Basic Education

The Washington State Supreme Court today issued a 7-2 decision in McCleary v. Washington, ruling that the state is not complying with its constitutional duty to “make ample provision for the basic education of all children in Washington.”

The Shoreline School District and the Shoreline Education Association are among a coalition of more than 380 school districts, statewide civic organizations and community groups, education associations, parents and teachers that joined in the lawsuit as the Network for Excellence in Washington Schools (NEWS).

NEWS, together with the McCleary and Venema families on whose behalf the lawsuit was filed, declared the ruling an historic and monumental victory for public school students and citizens of Washington.

As NEWS lead attorney Tom Ahearne summarized: "The highest Court in our State has clearly told our Legislature, once and for all, that the State is violating its Constitutional duty to the people of Washington, and has declared that the Court will retain jurisdiction to enforce its ruling rather than sit on the sidelines and 'hope' that the Legislature someday complies."

The Supreme Court upheld a 2010 decision by King County Superior Court Judge John Erlick, declaring that the State must amply fund education first before any other State programs or operations. In addition, the Supreme Court prohibited the Legislature from eliminating or cutting funding for reasons of unrelated to educational policy, in other words, financial expediency cannot be used as an excuse to further cut education. The ruling also rejected the State's contention that federal funds and local levies should be counted toward meeting the State's constitutional mandate.

"The Supreme Court has unequivocally told the Legislature that our State Constitution leaves it no choice but to fully and amply fund public education," Ahearne said. "The only question now is whether our legislators will voluntarily obey the oath they took to our Constitution now, or be forced to do so by the courts later."

However, the state Supreme Court rejected the lower court’s direction to the Legislature to conduct a new study establishing the cost of a basic education and similarly rejected the lower court’s direction to the Legislature to establish a new funding plan, finding that the Legislature’s implementation of recently approved education reforms satisfied the requirements to establish a plan for determining the cost of a basic education and would meet the constitutional obligation to fund basic education if adequately  funded. 

The Court recognized the Legislature had enacted “a promising reform package” in its 2009 education reform bill and indicated that legislation, if funded, “will remedy deficiencies in the K-12 funding system.”

While the Court deferred to the Legislature to determine how to meet its constitutional duty, it retained jurisdiction over the case to “facilitate progress in the state’s plan to fully implement the reforms by 2018. 

“The state appealed this case to the Supreme Court to receive clarification and direction to guide the Legislature in meeting its constitutional duty — and this decision is helpful,” Attorney General Rob McKenna said. “We’re pleased the Court continues to recognize the primary role of the Legislature in determining how to meet its constitutional duty and that the Court recognizes the Legislature’s progress in fulfilling the state’s obligation in passing its 2009 education reforms.”

In February 2010, the trial judge ruled that the state did not provide ample funding for basic education, and then directed the Legislature to conduct a study to establish the cost of providing all Washington children with a basic education and to establish how it would fully fund such education with stable and dependable state sources.  The state appealed to preserve and clarify the Legislature’s authority and responsibility to determine how best to meet the state’s Constitutional duty to amply fund basic education.

The case was argued before the Washington State Supreme Court on June 28, 2011 by Senior Counsel Bill Clark.

The Legislature convenes on Jan. 9 and faces a roughly $2 billion shortfall.

See the Seattle Times story here.

Sources: Shoreline School District, Washington State Attorney General's Office.