Education task force report shouldn't be ignored
Thursday, December 11, 2008 12:40 AM PST
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The 14-member task force assembled by the Legislature 18 months ago to recommend improvements in the way Washington pays for K-12 education completed its work this week. The group will hand the 2009 Legislature a set of recommendations that would require roughly $2 billion more in state funding per two-year budget cycle to implement, according to a report by Associated Press writer Donna Gordon Blankinship.
We don’t expect much action on those recommendations in the upcoming session and neither do the members of the task force. The state’s economic circumstances have deteriorated considerably since this group began its work. Lawmakers will face a budget shortfall of well over $3 billion next month, and its likely to grow before the economic outlook brightens. It will be all the Legislature can do to protect the current $15 billion K-12 budget. Adding to it is pretty much out of the question.
None of this is lost on the task force, which includes eight legislators and one former legislator. Blankinship reports that their proposal calls for a six-year phase-in of the recommendations as money becomes available. That’s realistic, given current budget constraints. Of course, there’s the risk that this plan will drop off the legislative radar before the revenue picture improves enough to begin phasing in the proposed changes. That’s something lawmakers will have to guard against.
It would be a shame if the work of this group ended up like so many other task force reports and plans, gathering dust on some back shelf. The plan may be poorly timed with regard to the Legislature’s ability to implement it. But it’s a sound plan that has the potential to strengthen K-12 education significantly.
We are particularly impressed by recommendations that would increase instructional time for high school students and decrease class sizes for kindergarten through third grade. U.S. school children spend fewer hours in the classroom than their counterparts in other developed nations. That could put them at a competitive disadvantage in the fast-emerging global economy. And very young students — kindergarten through third grade — are likely to get off to a better start when they get more individual attention in smaller classes.
The task force also recommends paying teachers different amounts, comparable to regional wages paid to non-school employees in their communities. That may not sit well with the teachers union, which has opposed any deviation from a pay scale based on seniority and advanced degrees. But it’s sensible, and it would seem to open the door to other needed changes, such as giving beginning teachers bigger percentage raises to help make the profession more attractive to prospective teachers.
Members of this task force are to be commended for producing a comprehensive and thoughtful blueprint for strengthening K-12 education in the state. Washington lawmakers must make sure the plan doesn’t fall through the cracks before they can find the resources to act on it.
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