Over the weekend I noticed this informative Seattle Times article about Governor Inslee and education spending. Governor Inslee says Washington state has increased education spending by $5.4 billion in the last two state budgets, and points out that we can’t design our lives “based on wishes….” I asked the governor’s office for a breakdown of this number, which they graciously provided.

Here is what Governor Inslee’s office sent. Their source is the Office of Financial Management:

Spending on K-12 schools has increased from $13.5 to $18.2 billion, a 35% increase. Expensive class size reductions in the K-3 grades have been funded, and new programs, like Early Learning, have been added and generously funded. The Governor and the Legislature have also increased funding to Higher Education, reducing the burden of college tuition on Washington’s families.

School districts are particularly enjoying this windfall of new revenue. Per-student spending from all state, local and federal sources will be nearly $13,000, as footnote 29 of Senator Hill’s Paramount Duty report shows here. This school year school districts are receiving $9,025 per student from the state, nearly $2,500 more per student than they received four years ago. 

These objective facts are the correct answer to the subjective claim, fueled by the controversial McCleary court ruling, that schools in Washington are underfunded. Governor Inslee and other policymakers in Washington state, led by Senate Republican budget writers like state senator Andy Hill (R-Redmond), have made increasing school funding their top priority. The Governor, the Senate and the House have worked together in a bipartisan way to expand school funding and to add these new programs. Yet, like Don Quixote tilting at windmills, out-going state superintendent of schools Randy Dorn continues to rail that schools are underfunded, when his two terms in office have been characterized by the largest expansion to education spending in state history.

Governor Inslee instead points to real dollars----the $5.4 billion increase in education spending over the last two budgets. Governor Inslee and the Legislature deserve credit for making Washington state Number One in the nation in increasing per-student spending without increasing the tax burden on Washington’s hardworking citizens.

Unfortunately, past efforts at expanding education budgets have not worked to improve the quality of the schools. When former Governor Christine Gregoire took office in 2005 she raised education spending by 32 percent, but then in 2011 she said this:

“I came in here determined to make the system better. To invest more money. I put a lot more money into K-12. But then you sit there and say ‘Why have I not been able to get the result I set out to achieve?’”

Reforms to the way money is spent in education are way past due. Washington Policy Center’s recommendations to directly deliver improvements to Washington’s schoolchildren are available in Chapter Five of our new Policy Guide, here.