More than 50 parents, officials and educators got a preview of the recommendations being made to Governor Chris Gregoire by the Basic Education Funding Task Force from one of its members, who also is a state legislator and former PTA president.
Joining a forum directly from the task force’s final meeting earlier in the day Dec. 9, Rep. Pat Sullivan, whose 47th District constituency includes Covington and the Kent School District, highlighted some of the problems facing the state and addressed what the task force hopes the Legislature will do about it next year.
“The structure of how we fund education is illogical,” Sullivan said, noting that Washington has slipped to 20th in the nation in per-pupil funding. “We’ve seen a severe deterioration, in any measure, of how we fund our schools.”
Sullivan said the task force was created because the state constitution specifically states the “paramount duty” of the state is to provide an education. The Legislature must define and fund “basic education,” he said.
According to Sullivan, the new proposals (http://www.leg.wa.gov/joint/committees/bef/ or http://www.whatittakesforkids.com) going before Gregoire will include the “program of education,” recruiting and retaining “top-quality” teachers, equity among districts, accountability and providing resources.
For the program of education, Sullivan said the proposed CORE 24 standards will constitute the required program, but a “model schools” approach should be implemented so districts are funded based on the programs they offer and necessary service levels instead of block funds.
CORE 24 is a set of credit requirements for high school graduation that the state Board of Education is considering and expected to vote on next year. In order to receive a diploma under the new standards, students would be required to gain certain numbers of credits from 10 subject areas. The goal is to provide students a strong academic foundation that will prepare them for whatever path they choose after graduation.
The task force also will recommend a new compensation system for teachers, including higher base pay, mentoring programs, gains in compensation tied to “professional competence,” and incentives for teachers to take hard-to-fill jobs, Sullivan said.
“The base salaries for teachers have to be higher,” he said. “We should make teachers’ wages comparable to what’s happening in other industries.”
Sullivan said changes also have to be made to the state’s levy system, which has grandfathered some districts at higher rates than others, despite a constitutional requirement that public education be “general and uniform.” Sullivan said other factors that school districts face, such as poverty, need to be taken into consideration, as well. The current system “doesn’t provide the resources necessary to bring those students up to the level where we can close the achievement gap,” he said.
Sullivan said new systems of accountability also must be put in place to ensure that every student makes at least one year of progress every school year. The task force is proposing a new, uniform system of assessment for all schools to monitor progress.
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But all changes will require new resources, which Sullivan called “the hard part,” especially when the state is facing a budget shortfall of potentially $6 billion.
The task force is recommending that state spending on education be slowly increased over the next six years until 50 percent of state money is focused on education. According to Sullivan, the current percentage is in the low 40s.
