- Albert Einstein -
As with any proposal on this topic, the Governor’s budget went too far for some, and not nearly far enough for others. In his press release sent out the following day, State Superintendent Randy Dorn was very clear about the budget’s deficiency:
During the Town Hall meeting one of the audience members asked what level of investment would be required in the 2017-19 biennium to meet the Supreme Court’s 2018 full funding deadline. Governor Inslee deferred that question to OFM Director David Schumacher who seemed to say that by fully funding the provisions of SHB 2776 in the upcoming biennium, the McCleary decision will have been fully addressed. In a subsequent conversation with the Governor’s staff I was informed that wasn’t what Schumacher was saying, but at least one reporter seemed to reach the same conclusion with an article titled, Governor plans to pay education lawsuit obligation a year early…
In his press release, Superintendent Dorn clearly articulated why funding SHB 2776 is sufficient to address the Court's ruling. While Superintendent Dorn’s reaction addresses how much funding the Court will require, the confusion regarding Schumacher’s statement points to the other, perhaps more essential element of the Court’s September 11 Contempt Order--providing a clear plan. In that ruling the Court stated that the reason for the contempt order was that “The State failed to submit by April 30, 2014 a complete plan for fully implementing its program of basic education for each school year between now and the 2017-18 school year.” (pg. 4)
This contempt order was precipitated by the State’s failure to comply with two previous orders that required a plan for how the Legislature would fully funding basic education:
...it is hereby ordered: the report submitted at the conclusion of the 2013 legislative session must set out the State's plan in sufficient detail to allow progress to be measured according to periodic benchmarks between now and 2018. (pg. 2)
January 9, 2014:
...it is hereby ordered: the State shall submit, no later than April 30, 2014, a complete plan for fully implementing its program of basic education for each school year between now and the 2017-18 school year. This plan must address each of the areas of K-12 education identified in ESHB 2261, as well as the implementation plan called for by SHB 2776, and must include a phase-in schedule for fully funding each of the components of basic education. (pg. 8)
Regardless of that debate, however, it seems clear that Governor Inslee’s budget DOES NOT address the Court’s order to produce a full funding plan. If the Legislature fails to comply with that order in this session, I predict that we will experience another first in State history: the imposition of sanctions by the Supreme Court against the State for failure to comply with its orders.