Send them to the back of the class

They considered ways to make schools better, to weed out bad teachers and shrink class sizes and do what taxpayers have been wanting — demanding — for years.

But in the end, sleep-deprived lawmakers just grabbed the knife the other day and started slicing, cutting pay 1.9 percent for the state's K-12 teachers, and 3 percent for administrative staff over the next two years.

Now school districts will pore over their books — yet again — and look for ways to make do with less. Instead of paying teachers less, they may give them fewer days or programs, or another student or 10.

The districts that choose to cut teacher pay — or lay people off — will do so with the usual hand-wringing, dogged by union rules, parents and their own staffs.

And they will do what they always do, sparing the teachers with the most seniority, then cutting the last ones hired. That means getting rid of some teachers who could have been great, had Olympia given them a chance.

It could have, though, which may be the most painful part in all of this.

This session, lawmakers voted down legislation that would have eliminated the "last hired, first laid-off" policy in public schools, and prioritized teachers who have proved their value.

The legislation, sponsored by state Sens. Joe Zarelli, R-Ridgefield, and Rodney Tom, D-Medina, would have established a statewide, uniform, four-tier teacher-evaluation system in which certified classroom teachers with low evaluations would be the first laid off, if it became necessary.

Lawmakers nixed the bill because they passed a law last year that changes the way teachers are evaluated, and want to see how it plays out. The current evaluation system uses a basic "satisfactory/unsatisfactory" measure, but next year will switch to a pilot program with a four-tiered evaluation system that allows for improvement.

The Zarelli/Tom measure was a little "off-with-their-heads" for some lawmakers and for Rich Wood of the Washington Education Association.

"There is a system in place right now for teachers who are not performing," he told me.

But I admit, I'm warm to the concept of putting a little fear into teachers who think seniority can save them from mediocrity.

One cut, though, wasn't made when it came to schoolchildren, to the future that we purport to hold so dearly, and then, time and again, watch fall to the floor.

The Legislature approved $3 million for the Pay for Actual Student Success Program, or PASS. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Tim Probst, D-Vancouver, supports and expands preventive high-school-dropout programs in Washington state, where the dropout rate is 25 percent. The measure provides an additional $2.9 million for programs that connect local businesses with classrooms, find adult mentors and provide college scholarships.

Studies have shown that, for each student that avoids dropping out of high school, taxpayers save $10,500 per year.

So what have we said to kids in this last legislative session?

Well, that we can't pay your teachers as much, or get rid of just the lousy ones. We can't guarantee there will be arts or after-school programs, or that your classroom won't feel as packed as a Greyhound station on Christmas Eve.

But if you can hack it, if you can stay, if you can overcome any number of obstacles (personal or fiscal) and walk out of our cut-to-the-bone schools with a diploma, you've performed a small miracle.

Better yet, you've saved us all some money.

The headlines this week may have been about teacher pay being lower.

But the lesson for all of us might be that our expectations for our schools need to be lower, too. We just don't seem to have the will or the money to make them all they should be.

Nicole Brodeur's column appears Tuesday and Friday. Reach her at 206-464-2334 or nbrodeur@seattletimes.com. Sorry, Mommy.