On Sept. 16, Barbara Kline and I went to testify before the Legislative Joint Task Force for Basic Education Finance.
A panel from the Spokane School District and from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction preceded us. It became apparent that an idea being kicked around by the task force was eliminating the number of school districts through consolidation. We were up next. Apparently the task force thought we were there to talk about how we’d like to be eliminated.
As we watched half the task force leave, we told them, “We’re here to talk about how inadequate funding can affect a small, but stellar school district like ours on Orcas.” I opened with a humorous anecdote about how on Governor Gregoire’s 4th of July visit, our school board, one member at a time, accosted her. A small-town Chinese water torture, if you will, yet the Governor was quite interested in how Orcas ended up with a $600,000 deficit last year when she thought everything she had been doing was for the betterment of public education. She was attentive, sent people to meet with us, and, through her office, had invited us to come to Olympia to testify.
I then introduced Barbara Kline to talk about our district, our successes, and our economic challenges. She was fabulous for the four minutes she was allowed to speak before Chairman Grimm asked, “What do you want?”
Barbara, nimble on her feet, responded: “How about $500,000?” Grimm barely smiled and asked, “How?”
At which point I whipped out our list of “solutions”: one of which was to have the legislature redefine our funding status from “small school” to “remote and necessary.” Chairman Grimm then asked, “Yes, but is Orcas really necessary? I mean, it’s not like you people are needed to protect a port or anything.” I informed him that while we didn’t have a nuclear silo on Orcas, there are two thresholds defining “remote and necessary”: enrollment and distance.
We are seeking legislative language to include islands with a population under 10,000 under that definition. Barbara then made several other important points, including how our ALE school (OASIS) is funded as a “small” high school rather than as an ALE school, which brings in additional funding.
She also spoke to the woeful $4000 in-state money to provide programming for our advanced students.
Two members on the task force were paying attention and asked questions: Jim Kowalkowski, from the Davenport School District, and Judy Hartmann, Policy Advisor in Governor Gregoire’s office. We ended our testimony hoping the task force did not squander this opportunity to suggest its own solutions to fully fund public education in Washington.
Then we left. Was it a successful trip? I am certain they heard our points. What they do with that information is yet to be determined.
While I still have hopes for a solution to inadequate funding with our legislature, I have confidence in the community of Orcas Island. A solution may be found in our own electorate, if we ever were able to lift the amount we could raise from our levies.
Because, while Chairman Grimm may not believe Orcas public schools are necessary, I know our community regards them as essential.
Janet Brownell is current President of the Orcas Island School District Board of Directors, and recent past President of the Orcas Island Education Foundation.
