Washington legislators have created a budget that some claim has met the state’s constitutional obligation to provide ample funding for public education. They claim to have made a “substantial down-payment” on McCleary. House Budget Committee chair Ross Hunter correctly stated, when asked if the McCleary decision had been satisfied, “absolutely not.”

Here is a summary of the outcomes of the legislative session as they affect educators and our schools.

Compensation

A 4.8% increase in salary over the next two years. Of this, 3% is the COLA. The other 1.8% is a one-time pay increase, set to sunset at the end of the biennium. Essentially, we are being offered the COLA, plus a bribe that feels a lot like the $600 check Bush sent us in 2001. “If I give you a little money, will you like me… please?” In my case, at the top of the schedule, this will add roughly $270 to my gross pay.

A $12 per month increase in our health care allotment. Given that we are looking at a 9% increase in health care premiums this year, and likely another 9% next year the average rate of increase nationally, this constitutes an effective pay cut. We are all on different programs, so it is hard to quantify the impact on each of us. My case is pretty typical though. Over the next two years, this will amount to roughly $170 of net loss on health care.

So, if you take the difference, my check will increase by $100 next year. But wait. The COLA is not a pay raise, it is a keep even. The COLA is meant to offset losses in earnings due to inflation. If we subtract the 3% due to the COLA, then my net increase in spending power next year is…. negative $70.

So, in terms of spending power, my “significant raise” is a $70 per month pay cut. Your mileage may vary, but the result will be similar.

Less is not more.

But wait. If you are on TRS 2, there will be an additional 1% taken out for retirement. The reason for this is that the retirement system calculated their actuarial tables based on incorrect assumptions, so there needs to be a correction made. The error is that we are living longer than they had planned for. So, all you plan 2 folks will be seeing an even bigger cut. Your paychecks will come out less than last year in terms of real dollars. Then, when you correct for inflation, it comes out worse.

Class Size

The legislature decided not to deal with I-1351. They ‘suspended’ it by a 2/3 majority in each chamber. There is modest increased class size support for K-3, and support for expanding all-day kindergarten. 1351 was inconvenient, and would have required creating some sort of tax on the wealthy to fund. Clearly, Bill Gates’ bank balance means more to them than the education of our children.

Testing

The Biology EOC requirement for graduation has been suspended, but don’t get too excited. They are just waiting for the NGSS national test, and currently plan on imposing that in 2017.

McCleary

The legislature will be found in contempt. They will be required to provide a plan to fully fund McCleary by 2018 on July 27^th. Their plan seems to be to say, “When we said we would fund education as per our promise in HB 2261, by 2018, what we really meant to say was by 2023.” This won’t fly before the court.

Furthermore, the McCleary decision was strong in its statement that there is need to “enhance the current salary allocation model,” and that the reliance of local levy dollars to fund basic education needs to stop. To my mind, the word “enhance” means to increase. This hasn’t been done. Furthermore, the state has decided only to fund the COLA for state-funded positions. This means that those staff who are funded through local dollars will have their COLAs funded by local dollars, placing an even greater burden on districts to fund basic education. Since the state has failed to fund staffing adequately, almost every district has hired additional employees through local dollars.

Making Sense of McCleary — from the State Board of Education Blog.

Local Bargaining

By placing the greatest proportion of new money into MSOC (Materials, Supplies and Operating Costs), and the least into educator compensation and class size, the legislature is tacitly stating that if we want the compensation we deserve, we have to bargain it locally. This, we must do. The legislature has also increased local levy authority, leaving it to local communities to tax, then fund education.

It is thus essential that each of our locals bargain more aggressively than before. The legislature abdicated its responsibility toward compensation, class size and the McCleary decision. Our only choice is to correct these shortfalls at the local level.

What’s Next?

We do not know what the court’s response will be to the ‘plan’ submitted by the legislature on July 27. It is almost certain to be an affirmation to the contempt finding. Among the court’s options are;

• To call the legislature back into session.
• To suspend all of the current tax breaks, which would generate $30 Billion in new revenue, which would fund education and force the legislature to look seriously at reforming our very broken tax system.
• To provide jail time for key legislators.
• To give the legislature another pass, letting them have still more time to solve the problem.

There may be need for more action by WEA members. The public needs to be informed that the legislature failed to do their duty. This will require our making a loud, clear public statement that the legislature has failed. We need to expose the lie within their claim to have made a ‘substantial down payment’ on McCleary. More to come.