Additions to basic education OK'd in Legislature

For the first time in 30 years, the Legislature has made major additions to the basic-education program it provides Washington's public-school students.

On Monday night, the state House passed a bill 67-31 that calls for a full day of school for kindergartners, rather than the half-day that the state now pays for. It commits the state to pay for six classes a day for middle- and high-school students rather than five, and to provide gifted education. It also recommends that the state offer preschool to students from low-income families.

The legislation, HB 2261, passed the Senate last week.

Gov. Chris Gregoire is expected to sign the bill, which was championed by a bipartisan group of lawmakers and fought vigorously by the state's largest teachers union.

The annual price tag will be in the billions and, given the current economic crisis, the enhancements won't start anytime soon. But the bill's supporters succeeded in putting a framework in place for overhauling state's school-finance system.

During debate over the bill Monday night, Rep. Skip Priest, R-Federal Way, said the proposal creates a blueprint for how the state should improve basic education.

"The buck stops here tonight," Priest said. "It is now our responsibility to be accountable. It our responsibility to take the steps necessary to move forward."

The bill doesn't establish a start date for when the new basic-education program will start, but sets a deadline for it to be fully in place by 2018.

In addition to expanding the definition of a basic education, the bill simplifies the school-funding formulas created in the late '70s and early '80s, with hopes that the public will be able to better understand them. It also calls for increasing accountability for schools and sets up a number of work groups, including one charged with recommending changes to the way the state pays teachers.

Supporters consider the bill a historic piece of legislation that will help the state live up to its constitutional responsibility to provide a basic education for its 1 million students.

But critics, including the teachers union, say such sweeping changes shouldn't be approved until the state has the money to pay for them.

The state still faces two lawsuits that allege it is failing to live up to its obligations under the Washington Constitution to fully fund basic education. One of those cases is scheduled to go to trial later this year.

The Washington Education Association is one of the plaintiffs.

Under a series of court decisions in the late '70s and early '80s, Washington courts ruled that the Legislature must cover the costs of a basic education for all students. Districts still were allowed to ask local voters for more money, through property-tax levies, but those dollars were limited and supposed to be for extras.

Many school districts have long argued that their locally raised dollars largely go to cover basics that the state doesn't cover.

Staff reporter Jennifer Sullivan contributed to this report.

Linda Shaw: 206-464-2359 or lshaw@seattletimes.com