How Special Interests and Entrenched Bureaucracy Drove the COVID-19 Response to Education: The Case of Washington State

Policy Brief
LIV FINNE
Oct 29, 2020

Liv Finne

Director Emeritus, Center for Education

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Relevant Topics

Key Findings

1. Washington’s public school system, driven by bureaucrats more concerned about “equity” issues than consistent learning, failed children during the COVID-19 lockdown.

2. Private and public charter schools quickly turned to online instruction, but public schools want to move on without addressing three months of missed learning.

3. Parents cannot wait for the public school system to get its act together. They deserve more options, like Education Savings Accounts, for educating their children.

Introduction

When Governor Jay Inslee (D) closed the public and private schools of Washington State’s 1.1 million students on March 13, 2020, state education leaders made several key decisions that influenced the state’s attempt to deliver education services during the COVID-19 crisis. These decisions reflected the political priorities of the large, unwieldy, and inflexible bureaucracies and unions that run the public schools, not the needs of the parents whose children saw one-third of their 2019–2020 school year cancelled.

State education leaders relied on Washington State’s rigid school funding formula to protect their own financial interests. This funding formula controls the spending of public funds in the schools. This formula does not require districts to provide any credits or savings during school closures to the state. This formula does not direct resources to parents or students.

This Backgrounder is a case study of Washington State’s response to COVID-19, and maps an alternative path forward that would serve students and parents better. Providing direct aid to parents would help to shift control over public funding to families, and increase the capacity and the flexibility of the state to respond to emergencies, such as COVID-19. Such a change would loosen the control that school bureaucracies and unions enjoy over public school funding. Providing parents with direct aid would also help children to maintain their learning progress after COVID-19 by enabling them to access learning environments that are the right fit for them.

Read the full Policy Brief at the Heritage Foundation website here.