13th of March 2017
State school funding system ruled unconstitutional…in Kansas
Washington isn’t the only state grappling with K-12 education funding issues. On March 2, the Kansas state Supreme Court ruled that the State of Kansas was violating the state constitution by not adequately funding public schools. Sound familiar? The Kansas City Star reports: The court determined that the state is failing to provide roughly one-fourth of its […]
17th of February 2017
16th of February 2017
New Brief: Education Funding Plans: The Governor and House Want Significant New Spending
In a new policy brief we discuss Gov. Inslee's plan to comply with the McCleary decision on school funding as well as HB 1843, which was passed by the House Appropriations Committee earlier this month. Briefly: The Legislature must fully comply with the McCleary decision on school funding by September 2018. Both Gov. Inslee’s education […]
15th of February 2017
27th of January 2017
Senate Republicans' K-12 education funding plan is here
This morning, state Senate Republicans (aka the Senate Majority Coalition Caucus) released their plan for fully funding K-12 education and complying with the state Supreme Court McCleary ruling. They are calling it the "Education Equality Act." You can read the overview and a more detailed list of components below. No legislation is posted yet. We'll provide you […]
5th of January 2017
Lawmakers on K-12 funding panel issue competing recommendations
In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, every year on Feb. 2 residents await the sign of a groundhog – Punxsutawney Phil – to forecast the onset of spring. In the Washington state Legislature, lawmakers and other observers were awaiting a sign yesterday of how much members of the Joint Education Task Force could agree on solutions for full state […]
16th of November 2016
New-ish filing in McCleary case
In all the pre- and post-election news, we missed a recent filing with the state Supreme Court on the McCleary education funding case. The organization Washington's Paramount Duty, which has been quite vocal in calling for "new revenue" for K-12 education but not specific about where it should come from, on Nov. 7 asked the court to […]
30th of September 2016
Growth Management Act: Time for a change?
On Sept. 20, the state House Local Government Committee held a work session in Olympia to review the Growth Management Act, Washington's comprehensive land-use planning law which has been in effect for 25 years. It was part of a larger effort by the committee to consider changes to the law. At this meeting, the topics […]