By ISUMI HANSEN
WNPA Olympia News Bureau
OLYMPIA — The state House of Representatives passed a bill 64-34 Jan. 25 that would create a group to produce recommendations for retaining and fully compensating teachers, as required by the Supreme Court’s 2012 McCleary mandate.
That Supreme Court decision found the state was not meeting its constitutional obligation to fully fund basic education. Since September 2014, the court has held the state in contempt for failing to produce plans to accomplish this task, and in August last year issued a $100,000 per day penalty for failing to comply with its order. Basic education must be fully funded by 2018.
The Supreme Court includes teacher compensation as a component of basic education and found that local tax levy funds, which the court considers unreliable for sustained financial resources, have paid for parts of teacher compensation that should have been paid by the state.
“This is acknowledging that the current system is broken, that the current system is unconstitutional,” Rep. Chad Magendanz, R-Issaquah, said on the floor. “We are affirming our commitment to put an end to that.”
“We believe … that we have set our benchmarks, that we have fulfilled our obligation to the state of the Washington, to the people of Washington, and to the children of our state,” said Rep. Kristine Lytton, D-Anacortes. “I believe that this is our biggest hurdle. I believe that we can come together.”
HB 2366 establishes a task force that, with the help of a consultant, would produce for the next legislative session recommendations to fully fund teacher pay. The bill also requires action to eliminate school districts’ reliance on local tax levies by the end of the 2017 session.
Rep. Matt Manweller, R-Ellensburg, said the bill’s section about levies would bind legislators in the session next year to a deadline, adding that current legislators have been in the same position because the court based basic education on the 2009 statute that created the model for prototypical schools.
Manweller warned that the court would use HB 2366 against the Legislature. The bill now goes to the Senate for its consideration. A companion Senate bill last week failed to gain committee approval.
“We have undermined the legislative authority of this body, which we all care about. We have politicized the courts to a degree that has never been seen in Washington State, and we have led ourselves to the worst constitutional crisis since the founding of this republic,” Manweller said during debates. “And now we’re here today to say we’re not going to fix that problem. We’re not going to fix that mistake. We’re going to repeat that mistake.”
House Majority Leader Rep. Pat Sullivan, D-Covington, countered: “The bill we have today puts forward the next promise, the promise that we will fix a broken school compensation system.”
“I wasn’t here, and I don’t believe any of us were here, when the constitution was adopted, but we’re living up to the commitment that was made by our forefathers,” he continued.
Lytton, Sullivan and Magendanz were part of a work group established by Gov. Jay Inslee in September to produce this bill along with five other representatives and senators.
Inslee reacted to passage of the House bill Monday saying, “We still have much work to do for our school children and their teachers. Today’s vote keeps us moving in the right direction.”
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn spoke against the House bill during the House Appropriations Committee public hearing last week, saying the bill did not do anything that was not previously studied by other tasks forces, councils, and work groups created by the Legislature.
The bill passed the House with bipartisan support. No Democrat voted against the measure.
(This story is part of a series of news reports on the state Legislature provided through a reporting internship sponsored by the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation. Contact reporter Izumi Hansen: hansenizumi@gmail.com)
How House members voted on HB 2366
Voted Yea:
Sherry Appleton, D-Poulsbo, District 23
Steve Bergquist, D-Renton, District 11
Brian Blake, D-Aberdeen, District 19
Michelle Caldier, R-Port Orchard, District 26
Judy Clibborn, D-Mercer Island, District 41
Eileen Cody, D-Seattle, District 34
Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish, District 44
Jessyn Farrell, D-Seattle, District 46
Jake Fey, D-Tacoma, District 27
Joe Fitzgibbon, D-Seattle, District 34
Noel Frame, D-Seattle, District 36
Roger Goodman, D-Kirkland, District 45
Mia Grierson, D-SeaTac, District 33
Drew Hansen, D-Bainbridge Island, District 23
Brad Hawkins, R-East Wenatchee, District 12
Teri Hickel, R-Federal Way, District 30
Zack Hudgins, D-Tukwila, District 11
Sam Hunt, D-Olympia, District 22
Christopher Hurst, D-Enumclaw, District 31
Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma, District 27
Norm Johnson, R-Yakima, District 14
Ruth Kagi, D-Seattle, District 32
Christine Kilduff, D-University Place, District 28
Steve Kirby, D-Tacoma, District 29
Linda Kochmar, R-Federal Way, District 30
Patricia Kuderer, D-Bellevue, District 48
Kristine Lytton, D-Anacortes, District 40
Chad Magendanz, R-Issaquah, District 5
Joan McBride, D-Kirkland, District 48
Gina R. McCabe, R-Goldendale, District 14
Jim Moeller, D-Vancouver, District 49
Jeff Morris, D-Mount Vernon, District 40
Luis Moscoso, D-Mountlake Terrace, District 1
Dick Muri, R-Steilacoom, District 28
Terry Nealey, R-Dayton, District 16
Timm Ormsby, D-Spokane, District 3
Lillian Ortiz-Self, D-Mukilteo, District 21
Tina Orwall, D-Des Moines, District 33
Strom Peterson, D-Edmonds, District 21
Eric Pettigrew, D-Renton, District 37
Gerry Pollet, D-Seattle, District 46
Chris Reykdal, D-Tumwater, District 22
Marcus Riccelli, D-Spokane, District 3
June Robinson, D-Everett, District 38
Jay Rodne, R-Snoqualmie, District 5
JD Rossetti, D-Longview, District 19
Cindy Ryu, D-Shoreline, District 32
Sharon Tomiko Santos, D-Seattle, District 37
David Sawyer, D-Parkland, District 29
Mike Sells, D-Everett, District 38
Tana Senn, D-Mercer Island, District 41
Larry Springer, D-Kirkland, District 45
Melanie Stambaugh, R-Puyallup, District 25
Derek Stanford, D-Bothell, District 1
Drew Stokesbary, R-Auburn, District 31
Pat Sullivan, D-Covington, District 47
Gael Tarleton, D-Seattle, District 36
Steve Tharinger, D-Dungeness, District 24
Kevin Van De Wege, D-Sequim, District 24
Brady Walkinshaw, D-Seattle, District 42
Maureen Walsh, R-Walla Walla, District 16
Sharon Wylie, D-Vancouver, District 49
Hans Zeiger, R-Puyallup, District 25
Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, District 43
Voted Nay:
Vincent Buys, R-Lynden, District 40
Bruce Chandler, R-Granger, District 15
Cary Condotta, R-East Wenatchee, District 12
Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis, District 20
Tom Dent, R-Moses Lake, District 12
Mary Dye, R-Pomeroy, District 9
Dan Griffey, R-Allyn, District 35
Larry Haler, R-Richland, District 8
Mark Hargrove, R-Covington, District 47
Mark Harmsworth, R-Mill Creek, District 44
Paul Harris, R-Vancouver, District 17
Dave Hayes, R-Camano Island, District 10
Jeff Holy, R-Cheney, District 6
Graham Hunt, R-Orting, District 2
Brian Klippert, R-Kennewick, District 8
Joel Kretz, R-Wacounda, District 7
Dan Kristiansen, R-Snohomish, District 39
Drew MacEwen, R-Union, District 35
Matt Manweller, R-Ellensburg, District 12
Bob McCaslin, R-Spokane Valley, District 4
Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, District 20
Kevin Parker, R-Spokane, District 6
Liz Pike, R-Camas, District 18
Joe Schmick, R-Colfax, District 9
Elizabeth Scott, R-Monroe, District 39
Matt Shea, R-Spokane Valley, District 4
Shelly Short, R-Addy, District 7
Norma Smith, R-Clinton, District 10
David Taylor, R-Moxee, District 15
Luanne Van Werven, R-Lynden, District 42
Brandon Vick, R-Felida, District 18
J.T. Wilcox, R-Yelm, District 2
Lynda Wilson, R-Vancouver, District 17
Jesse Young, R-Gig Harbor, District 26
