On Thursday, Jan. 5,2012, the State Supreme Court issued a ruling on state funding of public education. The following is a statement from State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Randy Dorn, on the case (McCleary v. State):
Today’s unanimous ruling by the State Supreme Court is a clear victory for the students of Washington state.
The ruling confirms what I have been saying for many years: education funding has not been adequate, and further cuts are out of the question. The Court could not have been clearer about this when it wrote, “The State has failed to meet its duty under article IX, section 1 by consistently providing school districts with a level of resources that falls short of the actual costs of the basic education program.”
In 2009 I fought to pass legislation that created the Quality Education Council. The Council’s charge is to make recommendations for the implementation of new definitions and funding formulas for basic education. The Court correctly says that full implementation of the QEC process is the solution to this problem. As a leader of the QEC, I will make that happen by 2018 at the latest.
I am also glad that the Court will continue to monitor the case and I stand ready to help the Legislature identify the elements of basic education that remain underfunded or inappropriately funded.
Finally, I want to thank the Court for issuing its ruling before the start of the 2012 Legislature. The Court understood that the issue of education funding is too important to Washington state to have waited until the end of another session.
