The unintended consequences of well-intended legislation

This is a story about what is happening to a number of small school districts in the state as their school board’s try and cope with the outcomes of the legislation intended to improve public education.

The Washington State Legislature, under the State Supreme Court (McCleary) passed a number of mandates that were intended to do the following:

▪ Increased the full funding of basic education

▪ Reduce the disparities between districts

▪ Increase teacher salaries.

Now, the unintended consequences, at least for the Chimacum Schools:

▪ State funding of basic education will increase and be related to student enrollment, but the consequence is the trade off of reducing the already approved local levy amount.

▪ Reduce disparities between school districts; however noble, the results are that our district is less able to provide an educational opportunity similar to districts in and around Seattle.

▪ Increase teacher salaries; yes, well deserved, but so far, is resulting in protracted collective bargaining due to the dismantling of the state-wide weighted salary distribution formula that recognizes experience and advanced degrees.

Yes, it seems all well-intended legislation does have consequences.

This story was originally published November 15, 2018 at 3:35 PM.