WASA
News Release
Olympia, Washington 360-943-5717
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 6, 2005
CONTACT: Dr. Barbara Mertens, Assistant Executive Director, Government
Relations
Dr. Jill Jacoby, Executive Director
Washington Association of School Administrators
(800) 859-9272
WASHINGTON STATE SCHOOL FUNDING CRISIS: INADEQUATE
FUNDING OF BASIC EDUCATION DOCUMENTED IN NEW RESEARCH PAPER
OLYMPIA, Washington - The Washington Association of
School Administrators (WASA), a professional organization representing
school superintendents, central office and building administrators,
released its third research paper in a series on Washington
state’s basic education funding system today.
Paul Rosier, superintendent of the Kennewick School District and WASA
President said,
“WASA’s report, Basic Education –
General Apportionment Funding Issues, along with the two previous
reports on special education and transportation, demonstrate that the
state is defaulting on its primary obligation to fully fund basic
education. It is the best work I have seen on the state’s
paramount duty, which is to make ample provision for the education of
all students as required in Article IX, Sec. 1 of our state’s
constitution. This paper reveals the mystery of the single largest and
most significant funding source for Washington’s public
schools.”
The Ample School Funding Project was endorsed by WASA members in
November of 2003. The purpose of the project is to substantiate that
current state funding is inadequate to fund basic education as required
by the state constitution and as affirmed in the Doran court decisions
of the 1970s and 80s.
The research papers document that the formulas used to distribute the
state’s basic education dollars:
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Have not been reviewed for adequacy, even though contemporary
educational needs of students have changed because of education
reform.
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Are insufficient to carry out the state’s required
performance based expectations.
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Are not uniform.
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Provide less than full funding, which necessitates the use of local
levy dollars to fund basic education.
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Do not meet the “ample provision” constitutional
requirement.
“This research provides a factual, non-political view of how
the state has not met its obligations,” stated Raj Manhas,
superintendent of the Seattle School District. “The cold, hard
data prove that voter approved local levies intended to support things
that communities want are instead being used to pay for things the
state, by law, must provide. That’s not what voters expect.
That’s not what students deserve.”
The paper released today concludes “…the state has
continually failed to study the adequacy of basic education funding
(and) this failure has resulted in a crisis of basic education funding
adequacy and of commitment and responsibility.”
The Ample School Funding Project has been supported financially with
contributions from the Washington Association of School Administrators,
the School Information and Research Services, the Washington State
School Directors’ Association, the Association of Washington
School Principals, the Washington Education Association and a grant from
the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.
“The study provides an important historical perspective that
clarifies many troubling issues in our K-12 funding system,”
commented John Erickson, superintendent of the Vancouver School
District. “It also provides a foundation from which we can chart a
hopeful course for the future of K-12 finance.”
The research papers are available at http://www.wasa-oly.org/asfp.htm.
# # # # #
Ed. Note:
Direct e-mail inquiries about this release to:
Barbara L. Mertens, Assistant Executive Director, WASA
mailto:bmertens@wasa-oly.org
For clarification of points in the paper, contact:
Bill Freund, Project Consultant
mailto:b_freund@prodigy.net
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