The thanks of students, teachers and parents across the state of Washington should go to Superintendent Mike Blair of Chimacum, and the school board that supports him.
Chimacum's Blair, now one of the deans of the broad community of Washington public school superintendents, is at the lead of a coalition of 70 districts, education associations and others that have sued state government for failing to fully fund education.
This massive lawsuit was filed in January 2007 and is finally going before King County Superior Court Judge John Erlick for what is expected to be a six-week trial in late August. Blair both serves as president of the coalition and will be among its first and best witnesses.
It is a fact of educational and political life in Washington state that our schools are often poorly funded. With virtually no exceptions, our schools must regularly go before local voters in search of support for special taxes to support programs, teachers and, of course, buildings. It is a fact that most of these schools would have little to offer without that special support.
Yet the long train of levies and bonds comes in spite of the fact that the Washington State Constitution boldly proclaims "it is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders." Notes Blair: "Paramount means paramount. Ample means ample. All means all." What part of that simple, powerful, constitutional statement do legislators not understand?
The challenge led by Blair asks the court to recognize that educational standards established in a 1993 Basic Education Act, approved by the Legislature, had it right and should be enforced. Those standards include reading comprehension; knowledge of basic subjects including math, science and history; analytical thinking; and an understanding of life and work skills.
Once a judge endorses those standards, it will still remain up to the Legislature - not a judge - to set the appropriate level of funding, Blair said.
No matter what the outcome, Blair said to expect either side to appeal the case on up to the Washington State Supreme Court. It could be a couple of years before a final ruling is made.
But Blair is up for the challenge. His board, which has senior leadership, is backing him up.
So should the rest of us, including the other school districts in Jefferson County: Port Townsend, Quilcene and Brinnon.
Reader Comments
Posted: Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Article comment by:
Allen Frank
Be careful what you wish for Scott. There is nothing in the Basic Education Act you quote about Foreign Language, classes like Mark Welch's Video class, Athletics etc.
The first step ought to be to minimize the ocst of overhead (any money that does not go directly to the classroom).
If Mr. Blair is our hero, where has he been on pushing for consolidating School Districts & ESD's? How about eliminating the cost of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction? Sorry Scott...need to peel the onion first. My guess is the Basic Education Act will prevail...which will force cuts in sports, arts & other elective studies.
The real problem may be partly underfunding...but also a lot of wasted bureaucracy and crazy stuff like WASL.
Clean house...define education, then come to voters about more money.
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