Category Archives: In the News

The Seattle Times

Special education should be considered basic education. The state has a constitutional obligation to cover basic education with state dollars. Shortchanging school districts and the children they educate is just wrong. Read more…

The Seattle Times

No rest for the weary, they say. And that is true for the 2019 Legislature, even after the marathon of six years of lawmakers struggling to correct the state’s failure to fund basic education — all while under an order by the state Supreme Court. While the high court gave a nod to the Legislature’s plan to answer its 2012 McCleary ruling, much still needs to be done on education. Chiefly, that means finally and fully funding special education but also making tweaks to ensure the new approach works for all of the state’s students. Read more…

The Seattle Times

Though the Washington Legislature satisfied the Supreme Court’s basic education funding demands, its irresponsible indolence on special-education funding is coming back to haunt districts, students, families and taxpayers. Gov. Jay Inslee should call a special session within the next month to move special education funding into the “done” column. Read more…

The (Spokane) Spokesman-Review

After delivering large pay raises for teachers and other staff, Spokane Public Schools administrators are now looking to shrink the size of the workforce to help reduce a $12.6 million operating deficit. Read more…

The Associated Press

A long-running court case over the adequacy of education funding in Washington state has ended, with the state Supreme Court on Thursday lifting its jurisdiction over the case and dropping daily sanctions after the Legislature funneled billions more dollars into public schools. Read more…