State role in education funding needs scrutiny

Students in the Snohomish School District aren’t getting an education as they wait out a strike by teachers. But parents who have been paying attention to the information flying around the past two weeks are picking up a bit of math and state history. It’s clear there’s more to this dispute than extra money floating around in the district’s budget or teachers who should "get over it" and get back to class.

As the school district and teachers’ union worked through another round of talks Thursday, others had already introduced a third party — the real enemy, they said — Olympia. The last thing we need is another enemy. Instead, we should be pursuing a basic understanding of the complexities involving state and local education dollars.

Perhaps the first surprise for some — and the one most unlikely to change any time soon — is the state’s base salary rates for teachers. They’re not the same for every district. Some districts get more, some get less, in part depending upon whether they were "grandfathered" in at higher salaries when the Legislature addressed the issue of state-funded teacher pay in the early 1980s. Snohomish wasn’t one of those fortunate districts. But other Snohomish County districts were. The difference can amount to a few thousand dollars in annual salary.

Don’t expect that to change any time soon, especially given recent news that the state is facing a budget gap of up to $2 billion. When the Legislature meets in January, members will be looking for ways to make ends meet. Raising the state’s base pay for teachers won’t be one of them. In fact, it’s possible they’ll look to cut school funding. However, should the economy ever rebound, an effort to resolve the inequity in base salary should be put on the table.

What should be studied and considered in the near future is the levy base districts are allowed to use to determine how much they can ask local voters to supplement district budgets. Again, there are disparities. Some districts — again, the grandfathered districts — are allowed to pass levies at a higher rate than others. This seems unfair to many. But the rate was capped by the Legislature years ago after the state was sued by a school district whose levy failed.

Certainly it would help some districts if they could raise that rate and seek more local-levy money. But the risk is that it would create an even greater inequity among school districts that couldn’t pass levies. It’s conceivable the state would end up being sued again for not providing a uniform public education.

These are the issues we need to spend our time studying and resolving. Otherwise we’re going to see continued frustration between districts and teachers that spill out into the community and hurt our children.

Ultimately, taxpayers are going to have to decide how much they’re willing to pay and exactly how to define a "uniform education."

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