Tumwater teachers’ dispute should be with Legislature

The ongoing impasse between Tumwater School District and the Tumwater Education Association mirrors what has occurred around the state this year, with at least one strike — or one narrowly averted strike — in every region of the state.

To be clear, our teachers have a legitimate complaint regarding compensation, which is central to all of these disputes. The state’s annual historical comparison of teacher salaries beginning in 1979-80 offers insight into the strike rationale.

When adjusted to constant 2015-16 dollars, last year was the lowest average teacher base salary in 36 years, $6,279 lower than the high point in 1992-93. During the same time, teacher base salaries went from about double the state average salary to a little above the average.

The good news for teachers is that they haven’t been forced to rely on those state dollars for their total salary. Data from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction show that in the 1987-88 school year, state funding covered 99 percent of teachers’ salaries. By 2012-13, that had shrunk to 77 percent, and it’s safe to say the decline has continued.

From that perspective, the disagreement between the teachers and district leaders in Tumwater may appear to be business as usual, but with the added frustration teachers are feeling about their salaries. What has changed is the 2012 McCleary ruling, in which the State Supreme Court ruled it was the state’s responsibility to fully fund educator salaries.

In spite of daily fines by the court, the Legislature has not yet begun to step up to its responsibility, which leaves teacher salary demands focused on school district leaders. Legislators have not only failed to fund this constitutional responsibility, they have refused so far to extend the current local levy lid past 2018. Unless such action is taken, that lid will go from 28 percent of expenditures down to 24 percent in 2018.

This “levy cliff” will cause Tumwater School District to lose $2.2 million in the 2017-18 school year and $2.7 million in 2018-19. Given those losses, coupled with the district’s current levy commitments, it’s understandable that Tumwater’s leaders don’t feel they can afford what the teachers are demanding.

Those demands are based in part on local salaries teachers have negotiated in other school districts. Such comparisons don’t show the whole picture. Some districts have used most of their local funds to significantly enhance salaries, whereas other districts have used more of their resources to hire extra teachers or other staff. Such long-term decisions are not easily unwound to provide resources for the teachers’ current salary demands.

The ultimate solution for this problem isn’t to be found in the Tumwater School District offices. The solution, according to our state Supreme Court, lies with the Legislature. And thus far, lawmakers haven’t demonstrated the will to address the problem.

How much more local chaos must be created before legislators will begin to meet their paramount constitutional obligation?

This story was originally published March 28, 2016 at 5:01 PM with the headline "Tumwater teachers’ dispute should be with Legislature."