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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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Editorial: Bill a boon to troubled districts, communities

School districts are not forever.

Since 1937, the number of districts in Washington has fallen from 1,609 to 295. Most of the consolidations have been orderly, but there have been exceptions. Four years ago, the tiny Vader School District in Lewis County was dissolved because residents declined to pass a levy that would have funded a new school. The existing school had been condemned by the county.

The Superintendent of Public Instruction and the area Educational Service District had to step in and wind down the district’s affairs. State law governing the process for transferring assets, for example, was unclear, and the district’s decision to cease operations left the adjacent Castle Rock district no way to collect Vader levies.

The state had to kick in money to tear down the condemned schoolhouse.

HB 2617 provides a blueprint for a more orderly process, perhaps just in time. Cutbacks in federal and state money for education add to local district financial burdens.

Prior to 2007, there had not been a school district dissolution for 25 years. But given the financial pressures on all local governments, state Superintendent Randy Dorn assumes financial oversight committees for troubled districts might convene as often as once every three years.

The end result does not have to be dissolution. Since 2000, 12 districts have been subject to binding conditions mandating specific financial practices while they worked out problems. All but Vader have.

Two of the districts that were subject to the conditions are in Eastern Washington. Supervision of the Riverside district north of Spokane ended almost a decade ago. The Wilbur district resolved its issues in 2009. The Onalaska and Evaline districts, both in Lewis County, remain subject to binding conditions.

HB 2617 sets a time frame for districts to get well financially, determines what will trigger a dissolution, defines the roles of everyone involved from superintendent to district residents, who will be responsible for debt and levy obligations, and how staff and contracts will he handled, all as much as possible using negotiation and mediation.

Dissolving school districts is highly sensitive. In rural areas, schools are the community, and one may die with the other. HB 2617 provides for citizen input and, should one choose, judicial review of whatever recommendation emerges from the process.

An OSPI official testified Tuesday that HB 2617 is not a consolidation bill, but one intended to fill in large gaps in existing law. He likened the bill to a personal will; a thoughtful provision for the inevitable, even if decades in the future, and however undesirable.

If a district winds up in probate, all involved will be thankful for the law.