OLYMPIA — Classes begin this week for most of Washington’s 1.2 million public school students amid continued sparring on whether the state will be providing enough money to cover the cost.
Legislators insist the school funding law they passed in June increases the flow of dollars to districts and, in a couple of years, ensures the state is paying the full freight of a basic education for all students as demanded by the Washington Supreme Court.
But Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal is convinced the state’s plan isn’t providing enough money for special education and he is prepared to break the new law to force a change.
Reykdal said he will let school districts continue using local property tax levies to pay for this component of basic education knowing it’s a practice lawmakers and justices want to end. He argues it’s the only way to ensure districts can comply with federal requirements governing special education.
“You are stuck in an almost impossible situation,” he said in a letter sent to superintendents Friday. “I/we cannot forsake federal law in an attempt to meet state law. Where you clearly make the case that you have no reasonable choice but to use local levy proceeds, I will approve those levy plans.”
In its landmark 2012 ruling in the McCleary case, the Washington Supreme Court found the state’s method of paying for public schools to be unconstitutional. One reason cited was an over-reliance on school districts using local property tax levies to pay expenses of basic education that are the responsibility of the state, such as employee salaries and special education.
The 121-page law approved by legislators and signed by Gov. Jay Inslee imposes new restrictions on use of local levies starting in 2019. The intention is to have the money spent only on enrichment programs — those that exceed what the state requires — and extracurricular activities, such as arts and athletics.
Under the law, Reykdal is tasked with writing the rules for how those levies can be spent.
“I have consistently said none of the (legislative) scenarios will satisfy the needs for special education funding. If a district comes to me and says they need local levy dollars for special education, I am going to allow that,” Reykdal said in an interview earlier in the week. “We will always put civil rights ahead of legislative funding caps.”
His approach didn’t please Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee and one of the eight lawmakers who hammered out the lengthy McCleary plan.
“If he’s doing that, he’s breaking the law. His job, under the law, is to certify that those (levies) are only for basic education,” he said. “If he does this, we’ll be right back to the McCleary problem.”
Funding for special education is getting increased in phases so it’s too soon to conclude the state will come up short, he said.
“Is it solved for the coming school year? No. Nobody is claiming it would be fixed by next Tuesday when classes begin. It will take some time to get to full funding but we will get there by 2019,” he said. “We worked hard to make sure we get special education right. If there is something we didn’t get right, we should absolutely deal with it in the 2018 session.”
Reykdal said he’s focused on making sure every child with a disability receives the appropriate education required by the federal government.
“We’re not going to break federal law,” Reykdal said. “We’re going to find out if the Legislature is going to revisit this and provide substantially more money.”
Under the new law, the state will pour an additional $1.8 billion into public schools in the next two years and another $5.5 billion between 2019 and 2021.
Those dollars will go to address the education funding mandate of the court’s McCleary decision with the largest chunk of the increase in the next two years earmarked for wages of teachers, administrators and classified staff. Additional money is set aside for the Learning Assistance Program, highly capable students and reducing the size of classes in kindergarten through third grade.
Much of the new money will come from hiking the state’s common school levy by 81 cents to $2.70 per $1,000 of assessed valuation starting next year.
But while every property owner can expect a bigger tax bill from the state in 2018, many of them could end up paying less in levies to their local school districts starting in 2019.
That’s because the new law limits how much districts can raise through their levies. It imposes a cap of $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed value of property or $2,500 per pupil, whichever is less. In districts with high property values, it is unlikely they will be able to charge the full $1.50.
With special education, lawmakers boosted funding by $22.7 million in the 2017-19 budget and another $30.8 million in the 2019-21 budget.
They increased the cap on the percentage of children in each school district who may receive state funding for special education from 12.7 percent to 13.5 percent. What this means, for example, is if a district has 1,000 students, the state allotment for special education would be for 135 students, up from 127.
This will send more dollars to districts with higher numbers of special ed students while those with fewer students won’t see much change.
Lawmakers also retained the formula that allots a sum of money per student with disabilities that is 1.93 times the amount provided for a student without disabilities.
There are students whose educational services cost more than the state provides under the formula. In these cases, districts may be eligible for money from a safety net fund managed by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. As part of the new law, Reykdal must review the way this fund is administered and recommend any changes — including if it needs more money — by November 2018.
But districts will be asking voters as early as February to approve new local levies. Reykdal thinks it is important to be clear money from those levies can be used for any special education expense not covered by the state if necessary.
This could be a big deal in the Everett School District. In this year’s budget, the gap between the amount received from state and federal sources and the actual cost of the district’s special education services is $10 million. The district is covering the difference with local levies.
While officials anticipate a smaller number in future years, the gap isn’t going away.
“We clearly have some hills to climb that were laid out by our legislators,” Everett schools Superintendent Gary Cohn told the school board Aug. 29. “We’re very, very concerned because our community has likely heard some legislators say ‘we’ve solved it’ and that is absolutely not true.”
Cohn isn’t sure Reykdal’s approach will be the answer.
Under the new law, the state Auditor’s Office will review how districts spend the money to ensure local revenues are “used solely for purposes of enriching the state’s statutory program of basic education.”
Superintendents can face disciplinary actions if an audit reveals their district spent levy dollars on basic education expenses.
But districts are required under the federal Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act to identify and serve all students with disabilities.
That means they have to find the money somewhere, Cohn said. And in Everett it could be a real challenge by 2019 when the new limits on local levies kick in and the district anticipates collecting about half as much money as it did in the last budget.
“We’re grateful for what he’s trying to do,” Cohn said of Reykdal. “He recognizes the inevitable pincer in which the districts are caught and he’s trying to help.”
The gap between what districts receive in state and federal revenues for special education and their actual expenditures vary by district.
In Marysville it is anticipated to be $1.9 million in the fiscal year that started Friday In Lake Stevens it is $2 million and in Edmonds it is $8.9 million. Each district will cover this cost with local levies, officials said.
Mike Sullivan, executive director of finance and operations for Marysville schools, said he’s counting on being able to keep using levies in this manner. Otherwise he said he’d have a “big concern” on how to pay this tab.
And the underfunding problem isn’t disappearing any time soon, he said. However, he added, the state’s new formulas for funding special education will give the district more dollars “so I’m not losing as much money.”
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dospueblos.
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