Dear Legislators,
I think we can agree that Our Children are our Future….and that All Children deserve equal and guaranteed access to Washington State public school services and opportunities. We at Washington’s Paramount Duty are saddened, frustrated, and ashamed that our State is not honoring its Constitutional obligations to its children. We assume that you share our frustration and shame, too.
As citizens of Washington State, we join you in honoring our State Constitution, which imposes one, and only one, paramount duty upon the State: “to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders, without distinction or preference on account of race, color, caste, or sex. (WASH CONST Article IX, section 1). However, since 1975, the legislature has reacted to periodic downturns in revenue by freezing and/or cutting educational funding, without making up the cuts as the economy recovered.
Below is a synopsis of the State’s longstanding Constitutional provision at hand, as well as our Supreme Court’s say on the matter. If you are already aware of our State’s paramount duty, and the McCleary decision’s implications, WHY IS IT TAKING SO LONG FOR YOU TO CORRECT THIS PROBLEM and amply fund schools in our state?
The WA Supreme Court’s unanimous 2012 decision in McCleary stated that the State had failed to meet its duty under Article IX, section 1 of the Constitution, by consistently providing school districts with a level of resources that falls short of the actual costs of the basic education program, and that the Legislature “must fully fund that program through regular and dependable tax sources.” The WA State Legislature was ordered to develop a “phase-in plan for achieving the State’s mandate to fully fund basic education and demonstrate that its budget meets its plan” in five years. By August 2015, after two years without plan nor action by the Legislature, the Court found it in contempt of Court, and ordered it to be fined $100,000 per day until obligations to phase in and provide full funding are met. So, Today, in 2015, we are all paying the price of 40 years of chronically underfunded public education in our State.
Washington’s Paramount Duty is an ad hoc parent-driven organization that formed following the 2015 Teacher’s Strike, out of the realization that many problems with WA schools are symptoms of this long term, chronic underfunding. Membership is exploding (2000 within the 1st 4 days, and growing.) We are united in the belief that education in our state is sub-standard because it has been chronically underfunded for decades, and that it is the Constitutional obligation of our State Legislature to remedy this situation, without delay, by developing a regular, dependable, State-wide funding source.
Washington citizens feel the burden of 40 years of chronically underfunded WA public education.
• Growing discontent with the current system and its lack of resources led twice to teacher strikes in the spring of 1991, and Fall 2015, further stressing the importance of instituting comprehensive reforms. Disruptions in school schedules hurt families, employers, and communities. Insufficient salaries demoralize great educators and lead to high turnover in schools and District offices. We continue to lose some of the best minds in the profession.
• Access to educational materials, adequate classroom space, and reasonable class sizes is inconsistent across schools, typically reflecting the relative wealth of the community each school serves, thereby creating inequitable educational services and opportunities. This increases the achievement gap between kids of color and white kids across the state, and widens the divide between rich and poor. At our current rate of progress it would take over a century to close the gap. (Center on Education Policy (2010) Slow and Uneven Progress in Narrowing Gaps downloaded on January 22, 2013; http://www.cep-dc.org/publications/index.cfm?selectedYear=2010)
• Cuts in nursing and psychological counseling staff unsafely reduce their ability to detect and intervene before physical or mental health issues create real risk or harm to students and others. (note, Ballard has 100 homeless students. with a counselor ratio of 1-400)
• Classrooms are filled to overflowing; hallways and aged-out temporary structures are classrooms, while facilities (food service, bathrooms, gymnasiums, etc.) are inadequate for the numbers of kids served.
• $100,000 per day is a hefty fine, dollars that could be better used in the schools.
We all want the best for our citizens, our communities, and our State. Our Kids are our Future
AND I TRUST THAT YOU KNOW WE WILL BE LOOKING FOR, AND CALLING OUT, ANY ATTEMPTS – RHETORIC OR ACTION - TO TRY TO DIVIDE AND CONQUER REFORM EFFORTS BY TAKING RESOURCES FROM ONE VULNERABLE GROUP TO FUND ANOTHER.
I look forward to seeing swift action and leadership to right this wrong.
Thank you,
Amy S. Hamblin
Seattle Parent
I think we can agree that Our Children are our Future….and that All Children deserve equal and guaranteed access to Washington State public school services and opportunities. We at Washington’s Paramount Duty are saddened, frustrated, and ashamed that our State is not honoring its Constitutional obligations to its children. We assume that you share our frustration and shame, too.
As citizens of Washington State, we join you in honoring our State Constitution, which imposes one, and only one, paramount duty upon the State: “to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders, without distinction or preference on account of race, color, caste, or sex. (WASH CONST Article IX, section 1). However, since 1975, the legislature has reacted to periodic downturns in revenue by freezing and/or cutting educational funding, without making up the cuts as the economy recovered.
Below is a synopsis of the State’s longstanding Constitutional provision at hand, as well as our Supreme Court’s say on the matter. If you are already aware of our State’s paramount duty, and the McCleary decision’s implications, WHY IS IT TAKING SO LONG FOR YOU TO CORRECT THIS PROBLEM and amply fund schools in our state?
The WA Supreme Court’s unanimous 2012 decision in McCleary stated that the State had failed to meet its duty under Article IX, section 1 of the Constitution, by consistently providing school districts with a level of resources that falls short of the actual costs of the basic education program, and that the Legislature “must fully fund that program through regular and dependable tax sources.” The WA State Legislature was ordered to develop a “phase-in plan for achieving the State’s mandate to fully fund basic education and demonstrate that its budget meets its plan” in five years. By August 2015, after two years without plan nor action by the Legislature, the Court found it in contempt of Court, and ordered it to be fined $100,000 per day until obligations to phase in and provide full funding are met. So, Today, in 2015, we are all paying the price of 40 years of chronically underfunded public education in our State.
Washington’s Paramount Duty is an ad hoc parent-driven organization that formed following the 2015 Teacher’s Strike, out of the realization that many problems with WA schools are symptoms of this long term, chronic underfunding. Membership is exploding (2000 within the 1st 4 days, and growing.) We are united in the belief that education in our state is sub-standard because it has been chronically underfunded for decades, and that it is the Constitutional obligation of our State Legislature to remedy this situation, without delay, by developing a regular, dependable, State-wide funding source.
Washington citizens feel the burden of 40 years of chronically underfunded WA public education.
• Growing discontent with the current system and its lack of resources led twice to teacher strikes in the spring of 1991, and Fall 2015, further stressing the importance of instituting comprehensive reforms. Disruptions in school schedules hurt families, employers, and communities. Insufficient salaries demoralize great educators and lead to high turnover in schools and District offices. We continue to lose some of the best minds in the profession.
• Access to educational materials, adequate classroom space, and reasonable class sizes is inconsistent across schools, typically reflecting the relative wealth of the community each school serves, thereby creating inequitable educational services and opportunities. This increases the achievement gap between kids of color and white kids across the state, and widens the divide between rich and poor. At our current rate of progress it would take over a century to close the gap. (Center on Education Policy (2010) Slow and Uneven Progress in Narrowing Gaps downloaded on January 22, 2013; http://www.cep-dc.org/publications/index.cfm?selectedYear=2010)
• Cuts in nursing and psychological counseling staff unsafely reduce their ability to detect and intervene before physical or mental health issues create real risk or harm to students and others. (note, Ballard has 100 homeless students. with a counselor ratio of 1-400)
• Classrooms are filled to overflowing; hallways and aged-out temporary structures are classrooms, while facilities (food service, bathrooms, gymnasiums, etc.) are inadequate for the numbers of kids served.
• $100,000 per day is a hefty fine, dollars that could be better used in the schools.
We all want the best for our citizens, our communities, and our State. Our Kids are our Future
AND I TRUST THAT YOU KNOW WE WILL BE LOOKING FOR, AND CALLING OUT, ANY ATTEMPTS – RHETORIC OR ACTION - TO TRY TO DIVIDE AND CONQUER REFORM EFFORTS BY TAKING RESOURCES FROM ONE VULNERABLE GROUP TO FUND ANOTHER.
I look forward to seeing swift action and leadership to right this wrong.
Thank you,
Amy S. Hamblin
Seattle Parent
No comments:
Post a Comment