State officials address state of education
January 17, 2009
By Laura Geggel
Local representatives and senators answered questions about the state of education and its funding at a roundtable organized by the Snoqualmie Valley PTSA Council Jan. 9. In attendance were Representative Glenn Anderson and Senator Cheryl Pflug from the 5th District, as well as Representative Roger Goodman and Senator Eric Oemig from the 45th District.
Representative Larry Springer did not attend. Jay Rodne, a representative from the 5th District, did not attend either, but said he would come to the April 20 Snoqualmie Valley PTSA Council meeting.
The roundtable began with each elected official answering questions from the PTSA Council. Later, the session of about 60 community members divided in half with Representative Anderson addressing people from the 5th District and Senator Oemig speaking with residents from the 45th District.
Much of the conversation revolved around the ideas presented by the Basic Education Finance Joint Task Force. The bipartisan task force has formulated a new model for financing basic education. This model, which calls for no new taxes, will be presented to the state congress this legislative session.
Washington state currently funds districts based on formulas set by the state in the 1970s.
“Just about everybody would agree that the current system that was put into place 30 years ago has become threadbare,” said Anderson, who served on the task force. “And there are a number of built-in inequities that came from that and have now metastasized.”
The old model gives extra funds to schools that have transient students, English language learners and low-income students. It also has several imbalances, such as districts with grandfathered salary differences, different levy lids and differential reimbursement for administrative and classified staff.
Pflug explained how some districts got grandfathered into higher funding. Before the state lawsuits of the 1970s, school districts raised much of their money through local levies. Pflug said the new 1970 funding formulas helped districts that had trouble passing levies. Districts that benefited from the former system complained and received grandfathered status — an allowance that was supposed to be phased out within the decade, but stays in practice until this day.
Anderson said he had high hopes for the task force’s new model and predicted it would have support among state Republicans. The state Democrats might have a harder time supporting it, Anderson said, because many Democrats support either schools or healthcare and social services — all of which need money.
But Goodman (D-45th District) disagreed, saying, “I don’t think we should be cutting any of them.”
Mount Si High School teacher Art Galloway seconded Goodman.
“If you don’t have both, you’re not going to get the outcomes,” Galloway said.
The school district faces funding inequities through private fundraising, as well. Carolyn Simpson, president of the Snoqualmie Valley Schools Foundation, said the foundation has raised roughly $19 per student in 2007. In comparison, Issaquah raised $45, Bellevue raised $109 and Mercer Island raised $211 per student.
Encompass staff also made an appearance at the legislative roundtable. The center asked the representatives to increase funding for early education. Anderson has served on Encompass’ board for nine years.
Several other conversations touched on other funds experiencing cuts or suspensions.
“How schools are going to fund their locally hired staff without 728 money is another issue altogether,” Pflug said, referring to the initiative that reduces class size. If the governor’s proposed budget passes, Snoqualmie Valley could lose funding for 30 teachers.
All in all, the elected officials said they would put education first.
“We are not going back on education,” Goodman said. “We’ve started to go back in the last two legislative sessions, but we cannot go back. We’ll have to cut other stuff.”
Reach reporter Laura Geggel at 392-6434 .221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.
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