A lost opportunity . . .

The latest developments in Olympia around education should not come as a big surprise since the big players in the state in education (WSSDA, WASA, WEA, PSE, PTSA, League of Education Voters, and the Business Roundtable) could not reach agreement on the bills being considered by the legislators. These basic education bills including HB 1410, SB 5444, and SB 5607 that I have referred to in previous posts have been dropped and replaced by two companion bills, HB 2261 and SB 6048. The new bills speak only to an intent, meaning nothing will emerge from this session.

The need for significant change to a process that was developed over 30 years ago to support basic education will remain in place for the foreseeable future. We have changed a great deal over this time in what we do, how we do it, and how we are held accountable for student learning. Yet, the same formulas that defined what basic education included in 1978 are still being used to drive revenue to support what basic education has become since then. Many of the materials we use and the support structures required for quality in today’s public schools were developed after this legislation and the cost for most of them is not possible within current state funding. This means that more and more of the burden is placed on local funding through levies that has resulted in disparities between districts and the multiple lawsuits the state now faces around funding.

It saddens me that we have lost this opportunity to at least reach consensus around the need and the specific parts of the bills that would have lead to changes in funding of both staff and non-employee related costs. The bills did recognize and reinforce the need for changes to funding formulas and support for adult learning if we are to be successful in meeting the needs of all students. Were they perfect, no. But, there was more that we could have agreed on then not had we made the commitment that this was truly important legislation and that the time was now.

I don’t believe it serves any useful purpose to point blame at this time, we must instead again look to what drives our behavior as adults. To be successful at preparing today’s young people for options in post high school learning and work we must see changes to basic education in our state. We need to look beyond our organizations and our individual beliefs to find what will result in a collaborative product with enough leverage that the legislators will be forced to act. I was hopeful that 1410 and 5444 would provide that. Our lack of unity made it easy for the legislators to take the action to drop the bills. Obviously, given the current economic situation and the lack of support there was no leverage. We will never know, if we had united, whether there would have been enough to move forward through the current budget crisis. Only time will tell if 2261 and 6048 will be the answer.