Washington state is chronically underfunding education, despite a lawsuit and mandate that the legislature increase education funding. Just as San Juan County is geographically unique, it also has the ability to bring important invested parties, such as labor and management, together to advocate for shared interests. To this end, district leadership from San Juan, Orcas, Lopez and Shaw, each district’s school board leadership and union leadership from both certificated and classified unions have met together several times this fall and are all aligned regarding the state funding issues facing our county’s schools: the state must fully fund education now.
The percentage of the Washington state budget dedicated to funding K-12 education has gone down from more than 50% five years ago to 43% today. Statewide groups acknowledge widespread underfunding in the areas of special education and Materials, Supplies and Operating Costs. Special education funding for supplemental services to support our highest-need students is arbitrarily capped by the state at 16% of the district enrollment. Current percentages for island schools range from 17-22%, well above the funding cutoff. Additionally, MSOC costs like insurance, utilities and maintenance – most of which districts have no control over – have risen dramatically in the past five years without a corresponding increase in funding. These funding gaps must be closed by local funds, costing each of our districts hundreds of thousands of dollars per year and taking away from funds otherwise dedicated to basic education and staffing.
In addition to these statewide issues, San Juan County districts further identify “regionalization” as an inaccurate and incomprehensible state funding formula. The regionalization factor looks at median home values within a school district and 15 miles beyond its borders and increases district funding accordingly. Despite posting the second-highest median home values in the state, San Juan County schools’ funding regionalization is set at just 12%, well below the 18% of other high-cost-of-living districts. (Somehow, Shaw Island’s percentage was increased to 18% last school year despite the other islands continuing to receive a lower rate.) Each of the island districts is compared against a seemingly arbitrary set of “proximate” districts to determine their regionalization percentage, none of which accounts for the expanse of water separating us from the mainland. All San Juan County districts should receive the appropriate regionalization factor of 18% to meet the spirit of the initiative to provide districts with funding that addresses unique cost-of-living challenges facing their residents.
Legislators must take action to fully fund education, the paramount duty of our state government. Underfunding by the state of MSOC and special education has cost our island districts almost $17 million over the past five years. Our 12% regionalization rate further reduces our state funding. San Juan County residents can learn more and take advocacy action on our website www.supportislandschools.org. We ask all county residents to stand with our island schools.
Sincerely,
Brady Smith, Lopez Island School District superintendent
Fred Woods, San Juan Island School District superintendent
Eric Webb, Orcas Island School District superintendent
Becky Bell, Shaw Island School District superintendent
Jane Fuller, San Juan County Council representative
School board directors from Lopez, Orcas, San Juan and Shaw Islands
Public School Employees Union groups from Lopez, Orcas and San Juan Islands
Washington Education Association Local Union groups from Lopez, Orcas and San Juan Islands
Parent Teach Student Association groups from Lopez, Orcas and San Juan Islands
