Happy news for state budget writers today: The state Supreme Court has terminated its jurisdiction in the McCleary case on school funding. Today’s order concludes, “the State has complied with the court’s orders to fully implement its statutory program of basic education by September 1, 2018, and has purged its contempt.”

The $100,000 per day fine is lifted, and the Court denied plaintiffs’ request to add interest.

The state has ratcheted K-12 spending up substantially since the McCleary decision in 2012. The chart below shows how state spending on K-12 has grown since 2005-07. NGFS+ spending on K-12 is currently more than all other NGFS+ spending combined. (The 2019-21 estimate is from a Senate Ways & Means summary of the 2018 supplemental. It essentially shows what the maintenance level of the 2017-19 budget would be in 2019-21, but note that it does not include the effects of the governor’s vetoes.)

The second chart shows how per pupil funding has increased since school year 2012-13. State funding per pupil is estimated to increase by 77.0 percent from SY 2012-13 to SY 2018-19. While local funding is expected to decline slightly, total state and local per pupil funding is estimated to increase by 56.0 percent over that period. (The data for school years 2012-13 through 2016-17 are from fiscal.wa.gov, and the estimates for 2017-18 through 2020-21 are from OSPI.)

For background on the case and the Legislature’s efforts to comply, see our two special reports:

Has the State Finally Closed the Book on McCleary? (August 2017)

McCleary Deadline Approaching, But How Long Will the Solution Last? (June 2016)