Special-ed financing goes before court

OLYMPIA — Washington school districts on Monday asked the courts to throw out the state's system of financing special education, saying more than 120,000 students are being shortchanged by Olympia.

A loss could cost the state at least $100 million a year in more generous budgets.

Issaquah, Lake Washington, Mercer Island, Northshore and Everett, along with seven other districts from around the state urged Thurston County Superior Court Judge Thomas McPhee to rule that the system falls short of the constitutional mandate to fully finance basic special education. Seattle, Tacoma and 70 other districts support the lawsuit.

According to opening statements from the local school districts, the state is at least $130 million short of meeting the bare minimum. Districts end up filling the gap with local property taxes, shortchanging other students and violating the principle that the state constitution requires the state to finance an "ample" basic education for all, said the coalition's attorney, John Bjorkman.

Assistant Attorney General Bill Clark defended the current setup, saying the state and local districts together fully meet the needs.

10 percent of K-12 budget

The current two-year state budget provides $1.38 billion in state and federal support for special education, roughly 10 percent of the K-12 budget of $13.8 billion. The state has 1 million pupils.

The trial is expected to last three weeks. A ruling against the state would throw the issue to Gov. Chris Gregoire and the Legislature, unless the state appealed.

The governor is working on her 2007-09 state budget proposal, including money for special education. She releases it in December, and lawmakers write the final version next spring.

Gregoire declined direct comment on the challenge but said her education-study group, Washington Learns, wants to improve special education, particularly in the early years before kindergarten.

The state provides some services from birth to 2, followed by a system that covers students from age 3 to 21.

"We need to do a whole lot better in the early years," Gregoire said in an interview. "If we did a good job in those early years, we would identify [potential problems] earlier and we would take steps that could bring about dramatic improvement.

"Some students who are in special ed today would never even remotely have to be in [with early screening and treatment] and others wouldn't have to be at the level they are at now."

The governor said she will seek money for state schools Superintendent Terry Bergeson to scour all 296 districts and the rest of the country to find "best practices" for special education.

"I'm excited for special ed in this state," Gregoire said. "I think we have homed in on quality. It is not about just putting money into the system. It is about really looking at every one of these students individually and addressing those early on."

Suit filed two years ago

The lawsuit was filed two years ago and is just now coming to trial. Twelve districts formed the School Districts' Alliance and headed to the courthouse after talks with the Legislature failed to produce adequate progress, said Spokane School District Superintendent Brian Benzel.

The challenge has been supported by 72 other districts, collectively serving 62 percent of the state's children in special education.