Be smart about class-size funding

Voters adopted Initiative 1351, because they wanted smaller class sizes for students. Everyone does, in theory. But paying for that requires more teachers and classrooms, and the initiative didn’t address that reality.

If the 2014 ballot measure had – and a tax were affixed – it might not have been so popular.

In 2015, the Legislature voted to set aside the initiative for four years, knowing it couldn’t come up with the $2 billion every two years that’s needed to finance it. Lawmakers still need to summit Mount McCleary, which is its own multibillion-dollar climb. And that’s after several billion allocated by lawmakers along the way.

McCleary is the state Supreme Court’s ruling saying the state has fallen short of its constitutional obligation to amply fund basic education. The deadline is this current legislative session. Suffice it to say, the issue is complex and will be difficult to resolve.

Reviving I-1351 would be like raising the mountain’s elevation just as the finish line is in sight.

Lawmakers did shrink K-3 class sizes, which is where research shows it does the most good. The benefits wane in the upper grades, so there are smarter ways to spend that money. But even this scaled-back effort has proven to be a challenge.

Spokane Public Schools is 53 classrooms shy of meeting the K-3 class-size mandate, with little hope of meeting the requirement in 2017. The state hasn’t handed over cash for classrooms. Currently, some teachers share space or shuttle carts with their materials from room to room.

In March, the district had a 120-room shortage, so it isn’t for a lack of trying. The state offered limited grant money to help districts meet the mandate, which is 17 students per teacher. SPS didn’t get a grant; Central Valley School District did. The latter is meeting the goal. Meanwhile, other districts are also struggling to find space.

Despite all that, some legislative Democrats are talking about extending the mandate to higher grades, just as I-1351 intended, according to a (Tacoma) News Tribune article. This seems highly impractical given the price tag. Plus, if there is a diminishing return, the state should spend the money elsewhere.

This kind of outcome-based reasoning should be the guiding principle of all education funding.

Because of a rule that requires a balanced budget over four years, the Legislature will need to act on the class-size matter this session. Full implementation of I-1351 would be unwise and impractical. We doubt the public would support tax hikes for that, especially on top of the revenue needed to satisfy the McCleary ruling.

The K-3 solution is at least manageable, but the state will probably have to lengthen the implementation schedule while it finds the money for additional teachers and classrooms.

Perhaps phasing in that funding could be part of the Legislature’s final basic education solution.

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