Tell lawmakers ways to improve and fund public schools

OLYMPIA – Think you know the best means for the state to pay for public schools?

Then mark Oct. 6 on your calendar.

That’s when a panel of state lawmakers will be in Everett to hear from parents, teachers, and taxpayers on how the state can meet its constitutional mandate to fully fund education without relying on local property tax levies.

Members of the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee will host the two-hour forum in the Everett School District offices at 3900 Broadway. Everett will be the second stop on a seven-city tour that will begin Sept. 30 in Vancouver and end Oct. 27 in Yakima.

The purpose is to get out information on proposals under consideration in the Legislature, said Sen. Bruce Dammeier, R-Puyallup, who’s been helping arrange the listening tour.

“These will help educate us too and get better feedback from the community,” he said. “We want to make sure we have the opportunity to listen.”

Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, D-Bothell, the committee’s ranking minority member, said she wants to hear “how families feel about their public schools and what they think the needs are for their school, I want to hear how they feel about the commitment of the the Legislature to comply with the McCleary lawsuit.”

The Supreme Court, in the McCleary case, ordered the state to cover the cost of a basic education for public school students by the 2017-18 school year. On Aug. 13, justices started fining the state $100,000 a day until they get a plan from lawmakers showing how that deadline will be met.

Lawmakers did increase state spending on schools by $1.3 billion in the current budget. Those dollars are paying for materials, supplies and operating expenses. A portion also pays for offering all-day kindergarten at more schools statewide and reducing the size of classes in kindergarten through third grade.

Lawmakers must still find a way to reduce school districts’ reliance on local property tax levies that largely go to pay teacher salaries.

Absorbing the tab for compensation could as $3.5 billion in a budget cycle, legislators say. There are proposals to raise the revenue with a new capital gains tax.

Another idea is to swap state property tax dollars for local levy dollars. That would require boosting the statewide property tax while reducing local levies, a complicated swap that will mean some — but not all — property owners could wind up facing higher taxes.

McAuliffe said she’s not interested in hearing residents’ views on complex proposals in the forum.

Rather, she wants to know what they think is lacking in the classrooms and at schools. She also wants suggestions on how the state can pay to implement the voter-approved class size reduction measure, Initiative 1351. Lawmakers suspended the initiative earlier this year when they could not find a way to cover the measure’s $1 billion-a-year cost.

Rep. Chad Magendanz, R-Issaquah, a member of the House Education Committee, said he would like to hear how the public feels about the levy swap and capital gains ideas because that’s what lawmakers are wrestling with right now.

They will need a solution to the levy and teacher salary problems to end the fines, he said.

Senate Republicans came up with the idea of a listening tour and are inviting House members to take part. It is similar in approach to the transportation listening tour conducted by senators in 2013.

After stops in Vancouver and Everett, forums are set for Oct. 8 in Bremerton, Oct. 19 in Renton, Oct. 21 in Spokane, Oct. 26 in Wenatchee and Oct. 27 in Yakima.

All meetings are scheduled to run from 5-7 p.m.

Each will begin a short presentation on school funding challenges facing the state. Representatives of school districts, school boards, teacher unions and parent organizations will be invited offer their views on how best to reduce the reliance on local property tax levies to operate schools.

A chunk of the second hour will be set aside for public comment.

Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com.