In a recent interview with TVW’s Inside Olympia show with host Austin Jenkins, Governor Jay Inslee again said he wants to raise taxes and spend 22% over the current budget.  Due to the hot economy the state is already receiving a $5 billion revenue increase without raising taxes.

Still, Governor Inslee says the state constitution requires him to spend $4 billion more:

So the vast majority of the additional [spending] part of this budget is constitutionally mandated or legally required.”  (At 5:07)

Fact checking shows that this statement is not true. The constitution does not require the state to spend $4 billion more on K-12 schools (above the current $22.8 billion). Last summer the state supreme court ruled  the legislature had constitutionally fully funded the schools. In 2017-19 the state is spending over $22 billion on public schools, an increase of 68 percent over the 2011-13 budget for schools of $13.5 billion, thus fulfilling the McCleary court decision.  

The spending increases are so large that on June 7, 2018, the state supreme court ordered an end to McCleary:   

“The court concludes that the State has complied with the court’s orders to fully implement its statutory program of basic education by September 1, 2018, and has purged its contempt. This justifies the termination of the court’s jurisdiction and the lifting of contempt sanctions.”

In the last budget Governor Inslee signed a state property tax increase for schools, and families across the state are still bearing the pain of paying higher taxes. The governor wants to increase their financial burden again, claiming the constitution is making him do it.

The next legislative session starts on January 14. The legislature will likely boost schools funding again.

But it is simply not true that the constitution requires the legislature to spend $4 billion more on public education.  That proposal is a voluntary policy idea created by the governor.