On Monday House Democrats, led by Rep. Timm Ormsby (D-Spokane) and Rep. Kristine Lytton (D-Anacortes), held a press conference to announce their proposal for the new 2017-19 state general fund budget. This year is the final deadline for the legislature to meet the McCleary school funding requirement of “amply” funding the schools. Last week Senate Republicans announced their budget. The two proposals are very close in the dollar amounts they would provide schools. Both would increase state funding for the schools by about $3.8 billion, to $22 billion, an unprecedented and historic increase in school funding.  

Here is some detail. House Democrats propose to spend $22.0 billion on K-12 schools in their budget proposal. Senate Republicans propose to spend almost exactly the same amount, $21.9 billion. These means that in the next biennium over 50 percent of the state budget, the highest proportion since 1983, will be spent on K-12 schools. These proposals would deliver $3.8 billion more to schools, a 20% increase over the current budget. Total funding would climb to about $13,000 per student by 2018-19, placing Washington state among the top states in the nation in school funding.   

At the press conference, Rep. Lytton said they still need a $3 billion tax increase to fund the schools. But then she signaled Democrats don’t actually want these tax increases. She said they would not be scheduling a vote to pass them. House Democrats know increasing taxes is very unpopular.

The good news is House Democrats don’t need to continue their tax-raising talk. Taxpayers have already delivered $41.6 billion, nearly $3 billion more than in the current 2015-17 budget, and more than enough to amply fund the schools and non-education purposes in the overall state budget.    

Unfortunately, the House Democrat proposal does not offer fundamental reforms to the way funds are spent in the schools, as required by McCleary. By contrast, the Senate Republican proposal offers numerous, fundamental reforms. These include the replacement of inequitable and discriminatory local levies by creating a new state “local effort levy” to give every child, rich or poor, the same, fair and equal, dollar amount from this levy.

The unsung heroes of the McCleary saga are Washington’s taxpayers, and Senate Republican budget writers, led by Senator Andy Hill, who died tragically of cancer last year. Since the McCleary decision in 2012, when the state provided $13.5 billion to K-12 schools, taxpayers have increased operating funding for schools by $4.6 billion, and are now on the brink of adding another $3.8 billion. Taxpayers, and a tax system that favors growth and opportunity, have spared legislators from having to take tough votes to create new tax burdens on the people of Washington state. Taxpayers should be spared from these constant threats to increase their taxes, when they’ve provided so much already.   

The House and Senate budget proposals for K-12 school spending are very close. The legislature can negotiate a final budget without increasing the tax burden on Washington’s hardworking families and businesses. The legislature can then proudly inform the McCleary court that, by providing the record-breaking sum of $22 billion to K-12 schools, Washington state has fulfilled its paramount constitutional duty to make ample provision for the education of every child within its borders.