AP/TNT story on Federal Way decision
Posted on 13. Nov, 2009 by Mike.
Here’s a more detailed story about the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn a lower court’s ruling that pay disparities between school districts violate the state Constitution. An excerpt and link to the story is below. LEV will have more analysis on this ruling on Monday…stay tuned.
State Rep. Skip Priest, a Republican from Federal Way who served on the state’s Basic Education Funding Task Force, said he was more than surprised by the ruling.
“I’m not sure that surprised sums up my feelings,” Priest said. “Unbelievable disappointment would be closer.”
Priest said the court’s ruling is “superficial and appears to me to miss the point of the lower court ruling” - that if there are differences in funding between school districts, there needs to be a rational basis laid out by the Legislature for those differences.
Priest took special issue with the Supreme Court’s assertion that because Federal Way students do relatively well on statewide tests, they cannot claim unequal funding adversely affects them.
Federal Way schools Superintendent Tom Murphy said the Supreme Court essentially decided that treating children unequally through disparities in school funding is OK.
“I find that hard to believe,” he said.
“I’m extremely disappointed with their decision,” Murphy said. “I’m disappointed because apparently the Supreme Court does not believe that the constitution of the state provides equal protection for the children of the state.”
Click here for the full story.
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NEWS and the Federal Way lawsuit
Posted on 13. Nov, 2009 by Mike.
This week, the Washington Supreme Court rejected a lower court’s ruling that pay disparities between school districts violate the state Constitution. The folks at NEWS have posted information about how the NEWS lawsuit differs from the Federal Way lawsuit, and how the recent Supreme Court decision could impact the NEWS case. Here’s an excerpt below:
Although the Federal Way suit and recently completed NEWS trial both involve Article IX of the State Constitution, they deal with different issues. NEWS did not argue section 2 requires a uniform statewide salary figure. NEWS did not argue section 1 requires the State to fund all districts’ salaries at the same level. And, the NEWS case proceeded to a lengthy trial, with witnesses testifying about actual harms to actual people.
Click here for the full story.
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What’s Washington doing to win Race to the Top dollars?
Posted on 13. Nov, 2009 by Mike.
The Seattle Times covers a very timely story about what our state is doing to win Race to the Top dollars. Yesterday, the final regulations for Race to the Top federal grants was released by the U.S. Department of Education. Below is an excerpt from the article.
Despite the hurdles it faces, Washington does have some strengths to highlight.
In the past legislative session, lawmakers passed a bill to overhaul how the state funds its public schools, which included many of the same ideas the Obama administration is promoting, such as working to ensure all students graduate ready to go to college if they wish.
It also is further along than many states with the kind of data systems that Duncan has said he wants to see. Gregoire also said Duncan was impressed that Washington pays $5,000 bonuses to teachers who successfully complete the rigorous National Board Certification program.
That’s one way to reward teachers that the teachers union here supports.
Gregoire said Tuesday that she’s been talking with teachers union president Mary Lindquist and with Randy Dorn, the state’s top education official, about a legislative package for the upcoming session that starts in January.
Click here to read the full article.
