State budget should invest in students and future

By Randy Dorn

Governor Chris Gregoire struggled mightily to develop her budget, and I commend her on that. I know that she is required to deliver a balanced budget in December, and she has indicated that she will produce a revised budget in January.

But if the proposed budget passes it will be devastating to school districts already struggling to stay afloat financially. They will have to absorb $500 million in cuts to education for the 2010-11 school year on top of the $400 million cuts made during the 2009 legislative session.

The situation the state faces even without this new budget proposal is dire. The proposed budget is historic. It cuts away at the heart of what we consider basic education. As many as 5,000 teachers could be laid off. Added to the 1,300 teachers we lost this year, and the cuts will even further increase class size. We have world-class standards, but fewer teachers and larger class sizes will make teaching those standards extremely difficult. How can we expect our teachers, already stretched thin in their jobs, to teach standards to a class of 30 or 35 students?

The cuts will have terrible consequences beyond class size. To balance their budgets, many districts have already reduced their investments in facilities maintenance, which could compromise the health and safety of teachers and students. Many districts will also have to cut their reserves to impossibly low levels. A small emergency could bankrupt many of them.

We also need to look beyond next year. This school year, many districts were kept afloat by federal stimulus funding. But that money will not be available in 2011-12. In that school year, the contribution rates that districts pay into the teachers and staff retirement systems will increase dramatically because of legislative action and depressed investment earnings. Those contributions will need to be replaced.

The triple-whammy of lost federal resources, increased pension contributions and reduced state funding will mean that the education system we have enjoyed for three decades will be devastated.

Earlier this year, the Legislature passed a crucial education bill. Engrossed Substitute House Bill (ESHB) 2261 follows decades of increased costs without proportional funding. It is the first step to begin to fully address school funding, and requires a new funding system to be in place by 2018.

The underlying message of ESHB 2261 is that Washington has not fulfilled its obligation to fully fund education.

While the key goal of ESHB 2261 is to set the future of education, the proposed budget is a giant step backward. And it comes at a time when calls to move forward are being made from everywhere, including our federal government. The education we have known for decades is being threatened.

I know this is the first step in a long budget process for the governor and Legislature. I will work to ensure that all parties understand the gravity of the problem. Today’s students will not get educated tomorrow. And if they do not get educated today, our entire society will suffer far into the future.

Randy Dorn is the Washington state superintendent of public instruction.

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