After 16 years of waiting for the state to fund education reform, school funding advocates finally have their day in court.
More than 70 school districts, education associations, and non-profit organizations have filed a lawsuit alleging that the state is failing to meet its constitutional and paramount duty of making ample provision for the education of all children. The case name is McCleary vs. State of Washington, and it is also known as the NEWS (Network for Excellent Schools in Washington) lawsuit.1
Click here to learn how you can keep up to date with the NEWS lawsuit.
You don’t have to be a lawyer or school finance nerd to find the proceedings fascinating. As state officials, parents, superintendents, and experts answer questions posed by lawyers on both sides and the judge, you hear things like this:
“If you are serious about maximizing educational attainment, early learning can’t be ignored,” said Mary Jean Ryan, State Board of Education.
“The failure to fully fund K-12 education is the Achilles heel in every step forward the State has taken for decades in education reform,” said Representative Skip Priest.
If you are in the Seattle area, come watch some of the trial, even if it’s just for a few hours. You won’t be disappointed.
On Monday, James Kelly, CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, is expected to testify about the achievement gap. Mary Jean Ryan, chairperson of the State Board of Education, will resume her testimony on Tuesday.
When it’s the state’s turn to present evidence, we expect to hear the same tired old arguments from out-of-state experts about how money doesn’t matter. We know that that’s just plain wrong.
Click here to get daily trial updates.
We know our school finance system is broken. What’s on trial is our state’s commitment to a quality education system. The stakes couldn’t be higher. Now is the time to deliver on the promises of education reform, so tomorrow’s leaders can flourish.
It’s more than just the funding and the achievement gap that is at issue here. It is the whole Washington State Educational system’s old lingering process. Regionally, the State has left all power to each local school board. So, if the schools, teachers, or administration practice unsafe, illegal, or wrong behaviors such as verbal abuse towards lower functioning disabled youth on medication, or children of color, or low income children who are white, they have no accountability. The school board’s first and main goal is to protect the schools it resides over. Our current system process states that if the schools do make a mistake, the board must investigate itself. Therefore, even when inappropriate, it always finds itself innocent. This is a viscious cycle that continues and has continued for the past 15 years here in Spokane. This cycle has continued at the expense of families whose mortgage tax dollars are paid out as funding sources for these very schools. And then while the bad practices continue, our children are stuck under that umbrella for six hours per day. They are expected to accomplish learning where the Federal No Child Left Behind Act requirements are year after year not being met in the areas of math and reading. See Garry Middle Schools info at: http://reportcard.ospi.k12.wa.us
These goals have been unmet for three years in a row. The letters I have received as a parent suggest that I look for another school for my children away from the neighborhood where I live. So when safety acts are being violated on school grounds, IEP’s and disability needs are being ignored, and discriminatory behaviors are being practiced and expressed in the form of teacher to student bulleying, I am the one that has to find another place for my children to learn. But, I still have to pay taxes out of my mortgage to that school district that fails me each given year. .Do I blame the schools? No. I blame all Washington State laws that have (the Governors office, The Governors Educational Ombudsman’s Office, OSPI, ESD101, CPS, and our Local Police Departments) take a hands off approach to issues relating to our children’s protection and legal right to learn in a non-hostile environment while on school grounds . The process for our children is currently hostile. And the domino effect is the drop out rate by the time the children mentioned are freshmen in high school. When will we stop breaking the hearts of these youth? Why can’t we take power out of the hands of each regional school board until they show three years of improvement on their individual report cards? In the past few days, I have been told that the reason why the schools aren’t meeting the No Child Left Behind expectations has to do with the fact that children with disabilities cannot achieve the expectations given. Their inability to achieve is the factor skewing the numbers. This was passed on to me by Legislator Alex Wood’s office assistant Mrs. Steward. It is not her fault. This might simply be what she was told by someone closely involved with the school district we struggle with. I know this is not a true and valid reason. When I look around me, I notice that Mead, and all of the Valley schools have children with disabilities. They are meeting the standards at their schools. So, the problem is the processes legally with the Washington State Public school system. Change it. Create accountability. If this current system continues, the Internet and Home Schooling will become the norm for the majority of families who cannot obtain a safe educational environment for their youth in the State of Washington. Then what will the State do when they have buildings but no children to attend these schools? Does it have to get to this extreme? Or can changes be made immediately? Parents will search until they find the best alternative for their children. We will get our children through to graduation. We will get them on to college. We will do this successfully even if we have to go around the stumbling blocks within this State’s system and teach our children ourselves.