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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Salary system ruled unconstitutional

Donna Gordon Blankinship Associated Press

SEATTLE – A King County Superior Court judge agreed Friday with the Federal Way School District that the way the state distributes school salary money is unconstitutional and that the Legislature needs to find a more equitable way to distribute it.

Judge Michael Heavey wrote in an opinion attached to his order granting summary judgment that uneven distribution of state money to school districts violates the state constitution because it is not general and uniform, and violates the equal protection rights of Federal Way teachers, students and taxpayers.

The judge said he expects the case to be appealed to the Washington Supreme Court. The state has 30 days to file an appeal. A call to the state attorney general’s office seeking comment was not immediately returned.

The lawsuit was filed in November 2006 by the school district against the state, the governor, the superintendent of public instruction and other officials.

Heavey, a former state legislator, said he believes lawmakers had been making progress toward a more equitable distribution of school money but still have some work to do. For example, most school districts get $32,746 from the state per teacher, although a few get as much as $4,000 more.

The state distributes school money based on the number of students in each school district. Under a formula, the money is split among teachers, administrators and other staff, with employees paid within a range for each category.

“Because of the ‘ranges.’ there are 258 different funding levels for the state’s 296 school districts,” Heavey wrote.

He called the formula “arbitrary and wholly irrelevant” and said it was left over from an old system.

The greatest disparity is in salaries for administrative staff such as principals, ranging from $54,405 to $80,807.

School districts make up the difference between the state allocation and how much the market requires them to pay. For example, during the previous school year, Federal Way paid an average of $94,486 per administrator, well above the state contribution of $54,405.

The state education salary formula was based on what each district paid for salaries in the 1976-77 school year. It was corrected by the Legislature once during the 1980s but hasn’t kept up with population changes, said David Larson, Federal Way parent and school board member.

Federal Way Public Schools estimates it would have $11.5 million more in state and local money each year if all districts were treated equally.

Larson said he hopes the Legislature can resolve the problem that has left the state’s seventh-largest school district near the bottom of the 296 local school districts in dollars per student.

Federal Way has made $14 million in budget cuts since the 2002-03 school year to make up for inequitable funding, Superintendent Thomas Murphy said Friday.