Lawmakers offer 2 bills to change school finance

Legislators who focus on education say now is the time to start revising how Washington pays for schools, even if there isn't money to support the framework they adopt.

At a news conference Monday in Olympia, a bipartisan group of senators and representatives presented two bills prepared by a joint task force on basic-education finance.

The bills result from nearly two years of discussion.

The lawmakers avoided discussing the cost of the new system, but acknowledged it could increase the state price tag as much as 50 percent.

"It is time for us to commit to a plan," said Rep. Skip Priest, R-Federal Way, echoing others in remembering special reports over the past decade that did not result in concrete reform.

The proposal takes the current economy into consideration, calling for a six-year phase-in and recommending changes happen one by one as money is available.

Sen. Fred Jarrett, D-Mercer Island, said the report reinforced a lot of what state government has known for years: Teachers make the most difference in academic achievement, and some kids need more help than others.

The recommendations include:

• Rewarding teachers for earning special certifications and demonstrating competence instead of earning advanced degrees.

• Adding early learning to the definition of basic education.

• Eliminating inequities among school districts by eliminating grandfathered salary differences and levy lids.

• Increasing high-school graduation requirements from 19 to 24 credits and paying for six daily high-school classes instead of five.

• Creating a mentoring program for new teachers.

• Providing more money for schools with more kids living in poverty or immigrants just learning English.

• Simplifying school-allocation formulas to make them easier to understand.

Sen. Cheryl Pflug, R-Maple Valley, said there were a lot of good ideas in the proposals, but acknowledged lawmakers needed to be sensitive to promising something they can't pay for.

Some of her colleagues, however, reminded those listening to the news conference that the state constitution says education is the primary responsibility of state government and all other spending should come after education is fully funded.