Reports on the NEWS Case

The annual financial documents that school districts submit to the State list education revenues by source and expenditures by program. That was about the only point of agreement on the F-196 reports by either side as the trial over education funding resumed Thursday after a week's recess. Most of the day's questions and testimony focused on definitions and processes of education finance reporting in Washington.

In a day of testimony that focused on the processes of school finance, one point seemed evident: A new Washington law that seeks a new definition and funding method for K-12 is long on assumptions and short on certainty. Developing cost proposals for public education under HB 2261 is "a challenging exercise," senior K-12 fiscal analyst Ben Rarick testified Thursday as the trial on education funding ended its fifth week.

When a group of 18 high school students failed to pass the math exam in the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, the Edmonds School District "focused like a laser beam" on a solution. After the students spent a semester receiving one-on-one focused attention with an experienced teacher, 95 percent of them either met or exceeded the WASL standard for math.

K-12 education is the "No. 1" priority for Washington, commanding the largest portion of the State's general fund, Office of Financial Management Director Victor Moore testified Tuesday, opening the fifth week of the trial over education funding. But his testimony also showed that the State fails to cover certain critical costs that it does not define as "basic education."

With his spiked hair, dark clothing and heavy metal persona, the teenage boy seemed frightening to some of his classmates. But not to teacher Nick Brossoit, who playfully teased the boy along with his other history students. When the police arrested the boy one day at Peninsula High School in Gig Harbor, Brossoit was stunned to learn that his student had been living under a bridge after a failed placement with his third foster family.

Day 14 of the trial over education funding started and ended with an unresolved disagreement over whether the State could enter a 61-page document into the court record. The creator of that document, Stanford University economist Eric Hanushek and Wednesday's lone witness, based his testimony on his long-standing premise that more money for schools doesn't equate to better student achievement. Hanushek, who was hired by the State as an expert witness on education policy and finance, has similarly testified on behalf of more than a dozen other states sued for insufficient school funding.

Near the end of Tuesday's proceedings on the trial over education funding, Judge John Erlick asked a side question to Mary Jean Ryan, chair of the Washington State Board of Education. The judge wondered if the board's symbol, an Aladdin-like lantern, held any special meaning. The query brought a rare moment of levity for Ryan, who testified for the entire day. She didn't know about any meaning, she replied, though she has "thought about when the genie gets out of the bottle."

State efforts to raise academic achievement of all students, especially African Americans, have resulted in a "false promise" because funding has not been sufficient, James Kelly testified Monday as the trial over education funding began its fourth week. Kelly, president and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, was one of three witnesses who testified about the challenges of educating African American and Latino students on Day 12 of the trial.

A generational shift troubles Mary Jean Ryan, chair of the Washington State Board of Education. "We're seeing the present generation coming into the work force getting less educational attainment than those leaving," she said Thursday as the trial over education funding ended its third week. "The U.S. used to be at the forefront in the world but we have stagnated in some respects and are slipping." Washington is part of the problem, she indicated, because the K-12 system is "broken" and chronically underfunded by the State.