02/05/2010: "Judge Orders Legislature To Fully Fund Education"

“Building a bright economic future also starts with providing our children a first-class education…we are making progress …we can and must do more.” -Governor Gregoire’s annual State of the State address

ig_Judge_John_P_Erick-001 (30k image) (RobeProbe photo)

King County Superior Court Judge John P. Erlick could not agree more.

On Thursday (02-04-10) Judge Erlck found for the petitioners in a law suit against the State of Washington for failing to provide adequate funding for education as directed by the State Constitution

Judge Erlick did not mince his words in framing his conclusion in a 103 page Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law (pdf 638\k file), when he declared the state Legislature “is directed to determine the cost of amply providing for basic education and a basic program of education for all children resident in the State of Washington “ and “comply with the Constitutional mandate to provide stable and dependable funding” for basic education.

It will not come as a surprise if the state -or some other party- will appeal the courts decision, if for no other reason than, as the judge acknowledged “he deep financial crisis that the State currently faces.”

But he also quoted studies and findings that when it comes to providing and education for the children of the state, “The State will pay for their education now or society will pay for them later through unemployment, welfare, or incarceration.”

In order to move forward to meet the constitutional requirements to provide funding for education, the Court ordered the “the Legislature must proceed with real and measurable progress to the dual outcomes sought by the petitioners in this case:

(1) to establish the actual cost of amply providing all Washington children with the education mandated by this court’s interpretation of Article IX, §1, and

(2) to establish how the Respondent State will fully fund that actual cost with stable and dependable State sources.

The Court’s Conclusion of Law follows:

IV. CONCLUSION
Thirty years have passed since our State Supreme Court directed the State to provide
stable and dependable funding for basic education. The State has made progress toward this
Constitutional obligation, but remains out of compliance. State funding is not ample, it is not
stable, and it is not dependable. Local school districts continue to rely on local levies and other
non-State resources to supplement state funding for a basic program of education. Recent
legislation addresses, but does not resolve, the perennial underfunding of basic education.
Accordingly, the State is directed to determine the cost of amply providing for basic education
and a basic program of education for all children resident in the State of Washington. The State
must also comply with the Constitutional mandate to provide stable and dependable funding for
such costs of basic education. Funding must be based as closely as reasonably practicable on the
actual costs of providing such programs of basic education. The means of fulfilling this
Constitutional mandate properly fall within the prerogative of the Legislature.

The Honorable John P. Erlick
Judge, Superior Court of the State of Washington
For King County