Students big winners in NEWS ruling

Judge John Erlick ruled today in NEWS' favor on all elements of our suit against the State of Washington. The court declared the State out of compliance with the Constitution and ordered the Legislature to determine the actual costs of providing an ample education for all
K-12 students and to determine a stable and reliable source of funding.

James Kelly, Urban League

When the people put this state together, they recognized that there was one duty which would be “paramount”  – superior to all others – and it would education. That if there was one thing we would do better than anything else, it would be to give every child the tools to make their lives productive in society based on the schooling they received.

Since then we have witnessed a steady parade of budgets, politicians, rulings, and explanations on why that can’t be done. Everyone loves to talk about education as the great equalizer but few are putting up their pocketbooks as proof of their paramount duty.  For decades, all we have heard is the great “YEAH, BUT” of why we can’t get our kids the education they have been promised by the most important document of our state: our constitution. When the State Legislature passed the much lauded education reform bill, HB 2261, they still didn’t pass the money to go with it.

Today the Court has firmly established that ‘basic education’ is not whatever funding formula lawmakers might choose to adopt during each legislative session, but the knowledge and skills that students need to live and work as given them by schooling that is up to the standards they deserve.

The day’s of “YEA, BUT” are over. This ruling tells all: we have no time to wait to get our funding in order with our needs. If we wait until it’s a good time to fulfill this commitment to our kids, we will never properly fund education to the paramount duty we promised.
Another generation and another generation and another generation will be lost.

This ruling has defined what it will take to ensure school funding is focused on student achievement, not arbitrary calculations based on what the Legislature, the administration, the economy or anything else prompts us to consider.  We can no longer spend what we feel like spending on K-12 education from year to year: we have a paramount duty that finally has been recognized, verified, notarized and now formalized.

So get you students ready – all students – because the playing field is about to be leveled. Whether you are a kid of color, a white kid, or one of the other 50 other ethnicities who come to our public schools…. Whether you are a rich kid, a poor kid, a kid from a one parent, two parent or no parent household…. Whether you are a kid with a special need, a kid who speaks a different language, or a kid who needs to come back to school, you now have a place of equal opportunity in our public schools.

Thank you judge, and thank you to the team of people here with me who would not be daunted by this lengthy, and seemingly major uphill battle. We were the little train that could and now every kid in this state will be able to climb that mountain towards a decent education.

‘bout time.