Speakers included:
· Mary Fertakis, Director, Tukwila School District and WSSDA President
· Kathy Gillespie, Director, Vancouver Public Schools
· Holly Ferguson, Government Relations Director, Seattle Public Schools
· Cece Mahre, Associate Superintendent for Teaching and Learning, Yakima School District
Speakers gave examples of how cuts to LEA or days might affect their districts in the 15 minutes designated for the panel.
Gillespie mentioned that Vancouver Public Schools has invested $1 million in extending the school day and year for some students in 14 high-poverty schools based on need, and designated it the Opportunity Zone.
“Our students, all students, need more time in school, not less, to prepare for their future,” Gillespie told committee members.
Fertakis had just returned from a trip to California where she met with her counterparts from similar school director associations. “California has cut five days from their schedule,” she said. “Now they are looking to cut six to eight more days … I don’t think we want to emulate California.”
The panel fielded questions from legislators, including several about the use of half days in school districts and whether that represented a good investment of state funding.
Another panel of stakeholders, including State Board of Education executive director Ben Rarick, also voiced concerns about these cuts in the 2012 supplemental budget proposal. (Rarick is the former House Ways & Means education budget analyst and spent the past few years working on the K-12 budget.)
Speaking for the SBE, Rarick reminded legislators that basic education is a minimum program of entitlement currently defined as 180 days and 1,000 hours of instructional time. “We can have lots of lively and interesting conversations about how to define basic education. But not to bail out the state’s general fund,” he said.
Rarick also pointed out that LEA was being used to shore up the state’s lack of funding for basic education, paying for activities like transportation and helping get students college and career ready. “We can have a conversation about what really is ‘property poor,’ but districts rely on that money now for what the state should be paying for basic education.”
Jonathon Johnson, vice president of the NAACP, said that the civil rights issue of the century is education. “If we fail to address the education needs of our children, we will be paying for it in the future.”
And the financing equation
The second work session of the day focused on Committee Chair Rep. Ross Hunter’s proposal to find a different way to fund education in a “revenue neutral” way. The main ideas of the proposal would:
· Increase the state property tax by $1.17 per $1,000 of assessed value, starting in calendar year 2013.
· Make this a permanent rate change for the state portion of property tax, earning about $1 billion in additional revenue.
· Create a new school district excess levy cap for maintenance & operations levies at $2,500 per student.
· Eliminate grandfathering.
The staff presentation can be found here. Other information includes the overview, Table 1 and Table 2.
Committee members showed interest and concern about the proposal, with Rep. Bruce Dammeier, R-Puyallup, asking for a deliberative process that doesn’t rush the solution but fully vets the idea. Rep. Kathy Haigh, D-Shelton, said she was concerned about a loss of LEA, but if the proposal helped fill in the holes, it had her interest.
A panel with school district representation was also on hand to share their thoughts. The panel included:
· David Iseminger, Director, Lake Stevens School District and a member of the WSSDA Board of Directors
· Dr. Ken Hoover, Superintendent, Monroe School District
· Holly Ferguson, representing Seattle Public Schools
· Scott Izutsu, Assistant Superintendent for Business Services, Yakima School District
Iseminger, who has been working with Hunter on the proposal, said he is a strong proponent because it would stabilize school district funding, leverage the collective capacity of the state, is fairer than the current funding system, and sets a course for ample funding.
“Is this the full solution? No,” Iseminger said. But the proposal puts more money from the state into the basic education equation and funding formulas, which would provide resources where they were needed the most and have the biggest impact.
Ferguson and Izutsu expressed some reservations, although both said they had not enough time to fully analyze the proposal, while Hoover said it might be a way out of many of the funding challenges and inequities between school districts. All representatives appreciated the conversation to identify a stable, sustainable revenue system for K-12 education.
Their thoughts were echoed by Lisa McFarlane, League of Education Voters, and Randy Parr, Washington Education Association, who encouraged Chairman Hunter to keep working on the solution to full and ample education funding.
One step beyond
Next week’s calendar is posted, with several hearings on education and budget bills. We will highlight the most significant committee meetings in tomorrow’s update, but for a sneak peek, go to the following links for agendas:
