'Fully Funded Basic Education' Brings Many Questions

DAYTON--The Washington state legislature recently approved a four-year, 7.3 billion education package to satisfy a Supreme Court ruling requiring the state to fully fund basic education. The burden of basic teacher salaries will now be shifted to the state from local districts and salaries will be paid depending on regional housing costs.

The amount set aside from the package for 2018-19 biennium is $1.8 billion.

Details about how funds will be disbursed and what the rules are, are being discussed by officials at the Office of State Public Instruction, and are causing headaches for local school district officials, including the Dayton School District Administration.

Superintendent Doug Johnson said the state is instituting a $1.82 cent per $1,000 of assessed value increase in the state property tax in 2018.

The tax rate for the M&O, in 2016, was $1.74/1,000. In 2018 the tax rate for the M&O levy is projected to be $1.82. However, local taxpayers, will see an increase in the state property tax of about $0.88, making the total tax rate $2.70, Johnson said.

“The total rate is expected to drop back to $2.22 in 2019 and then increase slightly to $2.35 in 2021,” Johnson said.

Theoretically, local school districts are still able to raise local taxes as long as the state gives those districts enough money to pay for their basic education costs.

But before putting a levy on the ballot, districts will need to present a plan to the OSPI detailing how the money would be used.

Johnson said the formula for these “enhancement levies” has the rate dropping to about $1.50/1,000.

There is additional state oversight, Johnson said.

“There is much more reporting to the legislature and OSPI regarding how each tax dollar is spent. There appears to be some very complicated rules and formulas around what money can be spent, and how much is for employee compensation and benefits. There are also funding sources which can only be spent in specific areas determined by the legislature,” said Johnson.

Identifying how much money Dayton School District will receive when the state tax goes into effect will be determined by student enrollment numbers, Johnson said.

“The state will provide $12,500 per student to the district for basic education. There is still much to be learned about what exactly the state considers to be “basic education.” This is where much of the confusion is, at this time,” Johnson said.

Johnson said districts have received money per student at a much lower rate, but they also received funds for staffing.

“Now the state will provide just one lump sum,” he said.

The Dayton School District will receive $944 more for each student in 2018, with a projected increase of $2090 in 2019-20. An additional increase of $2025 is projected for the 2020-21 biennium, according to figures released by the Washington State School Directors Association, said Johnson.

“What is interesting, is that there are only projections for potential increases, but no work has been done to indicate what the potential is for higher expenditures, especially related to employee costs,” Johnson said.

The good news is the state has increased the special education allocation rate, which could provide more funds, depending on the number of students in the district who qualify for special education, Johnson said.

There will be additional funds to hire paraprofessionals in the Learning and Assistance Program as well, he said. And staff will likely receive salary boosts.

“But the state is eliminating the state salary schedule for teachers and each district will need to negotiate a salary schedule with its local association, around state designed parameters for minimum and maximum salary amounts,” Johnson said.

Johnson said the state is supporting three professional development days for teachers, which will be phased in, one day each year, until 2021.

And for better or worse, all education employees will be moved to a state health insurance benefit program in 2019-20, he said.

The OSPI and everyone else, including officials at the Dayton School District, are trying to get a handle on what all of this means, Johnson said.

At the Aug. 16 school board meeting Johnson commended Paula Moisio, the district business manager, for her significant years of experience and hard work for the district.

He said much of the work will be shouldered by school district business managers who will need to adjust to differences in the way accounting and reporting will be made.

“There is still a lot of interpretation and rule-making around some areas. It’s a work in progress, it seems,” Johnson said.