Blog

Plaintiffs in McCleary case: Allow program to operate, but it’s probably not enough

Yesterday the plaintiffs in the McCleary case submitted their response to the state’s 2018 post-budget filing. They acknowledge that the case is over. In the Court’s Nov. 2017 order, the Court said it “is willing to allow the State’s program to operate and let experience be the judge of whether it proves adequate.” Plaintiffs accept […]

AG, once again: State has achieved full compliance with McCleary

Yesterday the attorney general submitted the state’s post-budget report on school funding to the state Supreme Court. He argues: The state is fully compliant with the McCleary decision, The court should lift the contempt order and stop the daily penalties as of March 27, The court should allow the state to spend the funds in […]

How will school funding change this session?

In November, the state Supreme Court said that the state’s school funding fix, EHB 2242, will bring the state into compliance with the McCleary decision—if the salary component is fully implemented in SY 2018–19 instead of SY 2019–20. Beyond that, “At this point, the court is willing to allow the State’s program to operate and […]

A few points on the Seattle Times editorial on education reforms

On Friday, the Seattle Times editorial board wrote about six education reforms it believes are needed: improve graduation rates, close the achievement gap, build classrooms, “fully embrace early learning,” maintain college funding, and “fix unintended consequences.” While recommending reforms, the editorial board also acknowledges the recent Supreme Court order in the McCleary case: “In the […]

Regionalization and equity in the new education funding bill

The League of Education Voters (LEV) ran an interesting item last month looking at the spending numbers in the education funding bill the Legislature passed this session (EHB 2242). It notes, . . . it appears we are widening the financial gap between some local districts that historically have received more funding and those that […]

Notes from the Supreme Court order in the McCleary case, and its budget implications

The state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the Legislature is still out of compliance with its Jan. 9, 2014 order in the McCleary case on school funding, because the salary component of EHB 2242 (the education funding bill enacted this year) will not be fully implemented until the 2019–20 school year—after the Sept. 1, 2018 […]

Background reading on McCleary, in preparation for today’s Court arguments

The state Supreme Court will hear arguments in the McCleary school funding case today at 10. I thought I’d pull some of our writing on McCleary into one post, for those wanting some background reading. In 2016 we wrote a report on the case, the history of school funding in Washington, and the legislative response to […]

New OSPI analysis of education bill’s tax and funding impacts

The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction has posted two new spreadsheets showing updated estimates of the impacts of EHB 2242, the education funding bill passed this year. They are both available here. The Updated Multi-Year Budget Comparison Tool shows how the bill impacts funding by school district. It has been updated to include funding […]

An area of agreement between the State and plaintiffs in the McCleary case

On August 30, plaintiffs in the McCleary case submitted their post-budget filing to the Supreme Court, and four amicus briefs were filed by other groups. (I wrote about these filings here.) The State has now responded to them all, and the plaintiffs have responded to the four amicus briefs. Yesterday, the Supreme Court announced that […]

New McCleary briefs argue Legislature’s fix doesn’t go far enough

On Wednesday the plaintiffs in the McCleary case filed a response to the state’s post-2017 session report to the Court. Four other groups also filed briefs with the Court. None agreed with the state that it is now in compliance with the McCleary decision.  The Seattle Times has a good summary of the five filings. […]