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Report: State's schools need more cash

Funding for 2004-05 said to be $3.45 billion less than adequate

By JENNIFER BYRD | The Associated Press • Published February 23, 2007

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"We need to get serious about finding out where all the leakage in the system is."

Gov. Chris Gregoire and state schools Superintendent Terry Bergeson did not immediately comment on the report.

Gregoire has made education the focus of this year's legislative session. She is seeking improvements suggested by the Washington Learns task force, including full-day kindergarten for more students, more rigorous math and science courses and a stronger commitment to the state's colleges.

Including teacher salary increases of $382 million, $200 million to improve math and science education and class-size reduction grants of $139 million, Gregoire's budget for K-12 hits $12.3 billion for the 2007-09 biennium.

The Network for Excellence in Washington Schools, a coalition of teachers, parents, community groups and school districts, sued the state in January. The group said the state has failed to live up to the constitution, which defines education as the state's paramount duty. WEA is part of that lawsuit.

James Kelly, NEWS vice president and president of the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, said the report supports the group's claim.

"I told lawmakers this morning that they have an opportunity to affirm the framers of the Constitution by fully funding all schools," Kelly said. "The report gives them a vehicle of how to do that."

Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, D-Bothell, chairwoman of the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee, has sponsored a bill this session that she hopes could improve the education finance model in the state. The current model has not been substantially changed since 1977.

The bill calls for the panel to come up with at least two, but not more than four, options for revising the rest of the K-12 funding structure by Jan. 1, 2008.

"We all know education needs a large investment," McAuliffe said, but added that the funding increases would have to be phased in over several years.

"If we're going to change the way we fund basic education, there are steps we're going to have to take," she said, pointing to the WEA study and others developed for the Washington Learns panel. "We need to study the research we have."