Justices aren’t ready to relinquish power over Washington lawmakers

The justices are still not happy. The Washington State Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that the Legislature isn’t moving quickly enough to fulfill its constitutional duty of fully funding your children’s basic education.

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Former state Attorney General Rob McKenna worked on the McCleary case while he was in office. He says the court ruling is the justices’ way of keeping an eye on lawmakers.

“What the Supreme Court said is they are going to keep jurisdiction over the case to make sure the state Legislature follows through on the requirement that they come up with a complete funding plan by September of 2018,” McKenna said.

The justices acknowledged that the state has made progress in fully funding basic education. However, there are concerns about lawmakers following through with the remaining work that needs to be done, including proper funding of teacher and staff salaries. McKenna says school districts and taxpayers are still carrying that burden through local levies. It’s unconstitutional, he added.

As they work toward reaching their court-mandated goal, McKenna says it’s unlikely lawmakers will pay much attention to the advisory votes this year regarding educational funding. Voters’ advice was that property taxes should not be increased for education funding.

“The Legislature seems to ignore advisory votes,” McKenna said.

The court ordered the state to have a report ready by April of next year detailing its progress in education funding.

Listen to the entire conversation with McKenna here.