Proposals would hurt state’s rural schools

Bills proposed to reform Washington’s education system would leave schools across rural Washington further behind. The bills widen the gap between rich and poor schools in salaries for school employees. The bills also cut millions of dollars to equalize school levies in tax-base-poor districts.

House Bill 1410 and Senate Bill 5444 provide sought-after reform, but they contain levy and salary proposals that would undermine the changes for rural schools.

A regional salary plan would pay King County teachers the highest salaries in the state, according to a model developed but later rejected by Washington Learns, Gov. Chris Gregoire’s blue ribbon panel of education research experts. Central Washington, from Oroville to Grandview, would have the lowest teacher salaries. Spokane County teachers would be ninth out of 13 regions.

Washington Learns rejected regional salary funding because research did not support it. Last year’s Joint Task Force on Basic Education Funding revived the plan to satisfy various interest groups. This task force ignored research on teacher turnover and workload issues in rural areas.

Advocates for regional salary funding believe high housing costs lead to higher teacher turnover in richer areas. There are anecdotal stories of teachers who quit due to living costs, but no research to support a pattern.

Extensive research, though, shows just the opposite. Washington’s Office of Financial Management, in research mandated by the Legislature in 2000, stated there was no evidence that high housing costs led to greater attrition in high cost areas. University of Washington research in 2005 and 2008 shows teacher turnover is the lowest in more urban districts.

U.S. Department of Education research shows teachers transfer out of poorer areas in higher numbers in search of a better chance at professional success. They leave areas like Central Washington which have lower levies, larger classes, more kids in poverty, and fewer counselors, specialists, administrators and support staff per student to assist teachers.

Despite research, the bills provide the lowest salaries in the poorest areas where teacher turnover is the highest. Why should teachers working in the poorest schools with the least support get the lowest pay? Workload and cost-of-living issues balance out between rich and poor areas and state teacher funding should be the same statewide.

Besides, King County schools already have the highest pay. Bellevue’s levy provides beginning teachers $7,000 more and experienced teachers up to $15,000 more above state funding. Should state tax dollars provide even more?

The bills also widen huge differences in levy collections between rich and poor schools by repealing levy equalization. This state match lowers tax rates needed for levies in the poorer districts. Every district can add 24 percent more to its budget with levies, but poorer districts with poorer taxpayers pay many times the tax rates of richer districts for that levy. Cutting equalization will lead to substantially higher tax rates to collect levies in poor districts, leading to lower levies or failed levies.

Spokane’s yearly $12 million state match would disappear. In 2008, without the match, the tax rate for Spokane’s levy would have been $3.76 per thousand assessed valuation, up from $2.82 with equalization. Would Spokane taxpayers pay $12 million more?

Medical Lake’s levy rate would be $8.16 and Deer Park $5.54 for a 24 percent levy without equalization. Seattle, Mercer Island, and Bellevue all paid under 74 cents per thousand for 24 percent levies in 2008.

The poorer a district, the higher taxes go. A home worth $150,000 in Granger would pay twice the taxes of a $1 million Bellevue house to collect a 24 percent levy if equalization is repealed.

Depressed timber areas and labor intensive agriculture areas with the highest percentages of Hispanics and students in poverty pay the most. Many Yakima County districts require over $12 per thousand without equalization to get the full levy.

Most districts in the Puget Sound region collect their full levy, but students who are Hispanic, Native American or poor most likely go to schools with the lowest funding in rural Washington.

These bills avoid dealing with hard equity issues in Washington’s school levy system. The differences in services caused by levies would grow. Teacher turnover in poorer areas would accelerate. Our most vulnerable students will suffer the most.

All students deserve quality education. All teachers deserve comparable pay for the work they do, whether in King County or the poorest districts in Yakima County. And rural taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay exorbitant tax rates to get comparable schools for their children.