'Perfect storm' batters state, county school budgets

Philip A. Dwyer | PHILIP A. DWYER THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

• LEGISLATIVE IMPACTS
  
  To see a chart on how 2008 legislative action has affected funding for school districts in Whatcom County and elsewhere, click here.
• Bellingham in legal fight for special ed funds

Schools in Washington are funded by a combination of state, federal and local tax money. But the amount school districts have had to ask from local taxpayers has increased significantly over the last several years because state funding has not kept up with rising costs. Many districts have already asked local taxpayers for as much money as they’re allowed under state law.

In Blaine, where program reductions for the 2008-09 school year are being discussed, Superintendent Ron Spanjer said the public perception is that “someone must be mismanaging” the funds and that’s why the cuts are necessary.

“The risk I see is folks will start to beat up on each other and look for someone to blame,” he said.

In the past, districts tried to keep 5 percent to 8 percent of their budgets in their general fund as reserves, but over the years they’ve had to dip into that money, leaving many with no options.

“We get the sense that people think we’ve been crying wolf,” said Barbara Mertens, the assistant executive director of the Washington Association of School Administrators. “We’re on the brink of crisis. … We’re definitely crying wolf, but the wolf is at the door.”

HOW EDUCATION IS FUNDED

Washington state’s constitution requires funding of basic education for all students.

The definition of basic education dates to the 1970s, when the current funding model was developed. But what was considered “basic education” then is vastly different from what it is now.

“It’s archaic in the face of what we’re doing in schools today,” said Paul Rosier, the executive director of the Washington Association of School Administrators.

For example, when the funding model was created, computers weren’t a daily staple of people’s lives. Now they are, but computers aren’t funded by the state, which is why school districts have to ask local taxpayers to approve technology levies. Basic education also doesn’t fully cover special education, athletics, arts and the staffing levels that people have come to expect.

“Most people would be shocked about what is considered to be meat and potatoes programs that are not basic education,” Jenkins said.

Districts receive about $5,000 from the state per full-time student to pay for operations. They also receive some money for specific programs, such as special education, and for other nonemployee- related costs such as food, transportation, utilities and building supplies.

In 2000, voters approved two initiatives — I-728 and I-732 — that gave districts funding to reduce class sizes and allocate cost-of-living-adjustments to staff salaries, respectively.

Although the Legislature has tried to give additional money to school districts, it’s not enough, said state Rep. Dave Quall, D–Mount Vernon, chairman of the House Education Committee.

“It’s our constitutional responsibility to fund basic education. … I don’t think we live up to that,” he said. “We’ve dug ourselves into a big hole. … We need to make a substantial down payment, and I don’t think that’s been done in recent years.”

In 1993, Washington spent about 47 percent of the state budget on K-12 education, and the state was ranked 11th nationally in per-student spending. In 2005, the state was ranked 44th, with $7,432 spent per student, according to the 2008 Quality Counts report.

Currently, about 40 percent of the state budget is spent on K-12 education, according to Quall.

To move the state back to 11th place, an additional $2,553 would be required per student, or a total of $2.46 billion, according to information from Northwest Educational Service District 189.

“I think part of it is truly that the system of K-12 finances has become so complex and convoluted that very few people understand it,” Mertens said. “If the state was in fact fully funding basic education, (school districts) wouldn’t be going to local pocketbooks.”

HIT BY THE ‘PERFECT STORM’

School districts have been trimming the edges for years to preserve program levels, but this year a combination of factors has created “the perfect storm,” Jenkins said.

The Legislature approved a 3.9 percent cost of living adjustment for all district employees and a 0.5 percent adjustment for back pay from when the Legislature canceled those raises in the 2003-05 biennium.

The Legislature increased the amount of required retirement contributions without giving additional funding.

Promoting Academic Success funding, which is used to help students pass the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, was eliminated.

Enrollment is stable or declining, which affects how much money school districts get from I-728.

Diesel prices soared to more than $4 per gallon, raising the costs of busing, food, utilities and more.

Probably the biggest factor is the cost-of-living raise. School district officials agree staff should receive annual increases, but the state provides funding for only about 60 to 70 percent of the staff raises in the districts.

But all staff receive salaries based on state guidelines and must receive the pay raise, leaving districts to make up the difference.

“For many legislatures, they really thought they put money to help districts with salaries,” Rosier said. “They began to recognize the problem, but there’s no good way out of the problem under the current funding system.”

For example, the Bellingham School District will receive about $2 million from the state toward the raises but will pay an additional $1.2 million to provide the raises to the rest of the district staff.

In the past, districts have used reserve, retirement and I-728 funds to help offset cost-of-living raises. But with reserves mostly depleted, retirement contributions increasing and I-728 funding not rising as much as the cost-of-living adjustments, those options are gone.

“The past several sessions, the Legislature adopted COLAs and districts made up the difference, but a lot of things made it appear like a rabbit was pulled out of a hat,” Jenkins said. “To John Q. out there, it appears (everything) runs the way it’s been running.”

The Legislature did increase Learning Assistance Program funding, which is a program similar to Promoting Academic Success, but the increase was less than the eliminated funds for most districts, and there is less flexibility in how it can be used.

When all those funding shortfalls are combined, the Bellingham School District is required to pay $2,058,303 out of non-state funds to cover state-mandated items. For all 35 districts in the Northwest Educational Service District, the cost is about $28.8 million.

IF FUNDING ISN’T CHANGED

If the way education is funded in Washington isn’t changed, education leaders fear more cuts to staff and programs. Some districts may even have to fold.

State education leaders are rallying together in hopes of getting education fully funded.

The Full Funding Coalition includes representatives from education associations and unions from across the state, Mertens said. The group is working to answer some questions educators have been asking for years:

What is the definition of basic education in the 21st century?

How much will it cost to fully fund education in Washington?

How can schools be accountable to the public in ways other than the No Child Left Behind benchmarks?

A state legislative K-12 funding task force has been meeting to look at how to fix the funding problem. It is required to have a report done by Dec. 1, and Quall expects it to be an “eye opener.”

“To fully fund basic education is going to be a huge sticker price,” Quall said. “So then it comes down to: Where do we make cuts to fulfill our constitutional responsibility?

“I really think in this next session, this next biennium, we’re going to take a hard look at fulfilling our constitutional responsibility,” Quall said. “I think that there’s a crescendo that’s happened to the point where it’s going to get the Legislature’s attention more this session than any time before.”

Mertens hopes the Full Funding Coalition will be able to provide information to the legislative task force this summer. If the Legislature doesn’t make the necessary adjustments, she said the coalition may turn to voters to change education funding.

One of the easy ways to enhance funding, Mertens said, is to remove some of the unfunded mandates in the law books.

For example, schools are required to provide scoliosis screenings, but they don’t get funds for them. A bill to remove the scoliosis screenings was introduced this session, but no action was taken.

“Once an unfunded mandate gets put on the books, it’s almost impossible to get it off,” Mertens said. “The list of unfunded mandates starts with the underfunding of basic education.”