By Jerry Cornfield
Herald staff writer
Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn filed suit Tuesday to stop seven school districts, including Bellevue, from using local levy dollars to pay teacher salaries and other expenses of basic education.
Dorn contends it is illegal for districts to do so and the common practice enables the state to avoid its constitutional responsibility to amply fund Washington’s public school system.
“If this option of using local levies is taken away it will force the Legislature to carry out their responsibility and fulfill their oath of office,” Dorn said. “This (lawsuit) is trying to force issue.”
“Do I blame school districts from doing what they are doing? Absolutely not,” he said. “They were led down this path by the Legislature.”
The lawsuit, filed in King County Superior Court, names the Everett, Seattle, Bellevue, Spokane, Tacoma and Puyallup school districts as well as Evergreen School District in Vancouver. The state is also a defendant because the use of local levies is a creation of state law.
It contends that the state Supreme Court has made clear the state must provide ample funding for public schools “by means of dependable and regular tax sources.” Using local levy dollars doesn’t meet that test because they are susceptible to shifting property values and the whim of the electorate.
Rather, the court has said any money raised from local property tax levies approved by voters can only be spent on enrichment programs.
But Dorn contends the court’s McCleary decision doesn’t make clear whether it’s OK for school districts to use this source of money for basic education if they are not receiving enough money from the state to cover those costs.
“While the goal of this action appears to force the Legislature to take action and fully fund education. We strongly disagree with the singling out of seven districts through a lawsuit as an appropriate approach,” Bellevue School District spokesperson Elizabeth Sytman said.
Districts are resorting to the use of supplemental contracts funded by levy dollars to boost pay. These contracts provide additional money for “time, responsibility or incentives” or TRI, and can add up to tens of thousands of dollars a year in additional earnings.
In 2014, the average statewide pay for teachers was $52,944 but the average actual salary was $66,605. The difference of $13,661 came from local levies, according to the suit. For administrators, the difference worked out to $55,136 annually and with classified staff it totalled $14,091, the suit contends.
“Over time, the Legislature has allowed these contracts to become a substantial part of teacher pay, allowing the Legislature to avoid paying for increases in the cost of living or market rate adjustments. In so doing, the state has fallen farther and farther behind in amply funding basic education,” the lawsuit reads.
“School districts have been complicit in this abdication of responsibility in agreeing to larger and larger TRI contract packages in exchange for fewer and fewer services that are beyond the scope of basic education,” it states.”
Dorn said he isn’t asking for elimination of local levies. He said he wants a judge to set a date after which districts can no longer spend those dollars on basic education.
He said he hoped it would not be until 2018, which is the deadline imposed by the Supreme Court in the McCleary case.
Dorn in November requested a legal opinion from Attorney General Bob Ferguson on whether school board members have the authority to use local levies for compensation related to basic education services.
Ferguson declined to provide one, saying the question came too close to issues encompassed by the ongoing McCleary case.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com Twitter: @dospueblos
