— by Lin McNulty —

The Washington Constitution imposes only one “paramount duty” upon the State: “to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders, without distinction or preference on account of race, color, caste, or sex.” (WASH. CONST. art. IX, § 1.) So begins the Washington Supreme Court unanimous ruling released today regarding MATHEW & STEPHANIE McCLEARY, et al., v. STATE OF WASHINGTON (McCleary Decision).

“Accordingly,” the ruling continues, “this court must take immediate action to enforce its orders. Effective today, the court imposes a $100,000 per day penalty on the State for each day it remains in violation of this court’s order of January 9, 2014.”

Oral arguments in McCleary, et al v. State (Whether the State has met its duty under article IX, section I of the Washington State Constitution to make ample provision for the education of all children within its borders) were originally presented to the Court on June 28, 2011.

The Court has repeatedly ordered the State to provide its plan to fully comply with article IX, section 1 by the 2018 deadline. Because the State has repeatedly failed to do so, offering various explanations as to why, the Court found the State in contempt of court last fall, but held in abeyance the matter of sanctions until the completion of the 2015 legislative session. After the close of that session and following multiple special sessions, the Court finds “the State still has offered no plan for achieving full constitutional compliance by the deadline the legislature itself adopted.”

Governor Inslee’s office and State Legislature leaders scrambled today to take action on this penalty, and to look at calling another special session. Governor Inslee released a statement earlier today:

Today’s order from the Supreme Court acknowledges that significant progress has been made toward meeting the state’s obligation to adequately fund basic education. But everyone understood that even with those historic investments in education, our work would not be done.

The court today made it clear that bolder and more aggressive action is needed to support Washington’s students and their teachers. The detailed plan the court demands in order to fulfill our constitutional obligation will be more complex and expensive than the significant steps we’ve already taken.

I will talk today with Attorney General Ferguson, legislative leaders and others to fully analyze today’s court order.

This penalty may be abated in part if a special session is called and results in achieving full compliance.

As of press time, Senator Kevin Ranker was not available for comment.

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