Children standing in front of a chalkboard - League of Education VotersIn McCleary v. State of Washington, the Washington Supreme Court ruled that because the state government is not providing sufficient education funding, it is violating the state’s constitution. Further, the Court found that inadequate funding from the state is leading to inequalities and disparities between wealthy and poor school districts, because some districts are only able to raise a fraction of the money through local levies as other districts, despite having a higher local levy tax rate.

The Court has ordered the state to address this issue by increasing education funding and reducing reliance on local levies to pay for teacher salaries and other basic education essentials. Estimates say that complying with the Court’s decision will require the state to spend an additional 1.5 – 2 billion dollars more per year on public education.

2017 Legislative Scorecard

Resources that will help clarify the debate over education funding:

What You Need to Know about the 2017 McCleary School Funding Agreement (blog)

What You Need to Know about the 2017 McCleary School Funding Agreement (webinar)

McCleary Explained

Glossary of Key Education Terms

Definition of Basic Education

See how much Washington state spends per student in your district

Side-by-Side of Education Funding Proposals

Local Levy FAQ

LEV’s Perspective on the Latest Supreme Court McCleary Response

Our view on McCleary opportunities:

Rethinking Our Education System

Teachers: The Most Important Part of Our Education System

Every Student Needs an Effective Teacher

Great Teachers Need Great Preparation

Student Supports, an Integral Component of Basic Education

 

Presentations on education funding by the LEV Policy Team:

TVW: League of Education Voters McCleary Presentation (November 18, 2016)

  1. I Can See McClear-ly Now: A look at the education funding debate in Washington, gives you an in-depth look at how we got where we are today.
  2. We Can Work it Out: A long and winding road to funding basic education, covers whether our current education funding structure is fair and whether the system benefits all kids.

 

Other resources:

LEVinar on The McCleary Task Force: What to Expect Archived Recording | Presentation Slides

McCleary Education Funding Task Force Duties and Responsibilities

Senate Bill 6195, which created the Education Funding Task Force

Our view on NPR Education’s School Money series: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

A summary of our November 2016 field trip to California, Education Funding Takeaways from California

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