House Education K-12 Finance History Overview

“The Legislature shall provide for a general and uniform system of public schools. The public school system shall include common schools, and such high schools, normal schools, and technical schools as may hereafter be established.”
Article IX, Section 2 Washington State Constitution

Tuesday afternoon, the House Education had staff provide an overview to the committee of:

• K–12 Finance Overview – Slide 5 & 6 reports just over 68% of school operating fund are from the state, 8% from the federal government, and local taxes make up 23% of schools’ budgets.
• A Brief Constitutional History of Basic Education – This report traces the Washington State Constitution’s education provision (Article IX) from 1889 through the 2010.
• An Overview of ESHB 2261 &SHB 2776 – These two bills revised the statutory definition of basic education and established new formulas for distributing state funds to school districts.
• McCleary: The Article IX Ruling – This reviews the suit that was filed in 2007 through 2014 when the State Supreme Court held the state in contempt for not providing an implementation plan to the court.
• I–1351 – This report reviews the basic components of I–1351(Class Size Counts) along with a summary of the fiscal Impact of the Initiative.