House supports creation of task force to solve education funding problem next year

OLYMPIA – State leaders will take at least another year to fix state funding for education as ordered by the state Supreme Court.

A proposal to set up a task force on public school funding – dubbed by some critics a plan to make a plan – received final approval in the House on Thursday and is headed to Gov. Jay Inslee.

With minimal debate, the House voted 66-31 to approve the latest version of a bill designed to provide next year’s Legislature with a plan to revise the property tax system so the state covers school expenses that are considered “basic education.” Some local school districts use part of their local property tax levy to pay teacher salaries, which the Supreme Court has ruled is a state obligation.

Rep. Matt Manweller, R-Ellensburg, objected to the bill, saying it wouldn’t prevent school districts from using their property tax money to augment basic education expenses in the future. “There’s nothing in here to avoid them doing the same thing five years down the road,” he said. “We could get sued again.”

But House Majority Leader Pat Sullivan, D-Covington, said that wasn’t likely: “Local districts are using levies because the state is not living up to its duty.”

After some parents and school districts sued, the Legislature was ordered by the state Supreme Court to comply with a constitutional obligation to make education of Washington children its paramount duty. Lawmakers have added more than $4 billion to public schools since that ruling came down, but have yet to address problems with the state and local property tax levy systems. Last fall the court held the Legislature in contempt and fined the state $100,000 a day.

Changing the property tax levy system is complicated, and most plans involve tax breaks for some school districts and increases for others. No proposal has gained widespread support in the closely divided Legislature, so the bill that was passed Thursday sets up a task force to come up with a plan to present to next year’s Legislature, which could then develop a law that would pass.

Asked whether setting up a task force to make a plan would satisfy the Supreme Court and lead to a lifting of the fine, Sullivan said only the court can make that decision.

Earlier in the day, Inslee indicated he would sign the bill, hoping legislators would “come back in 2017, buckle down and get this done.”