OLYMPIA, WA - Yesterday a King County Superior Court judge ruled against the State in McCleary v. Washington. Judge Erlick ordered the State to determine the cost of basic education and to provide stable and dependable funding.
 
Diana Cieslak, Education Policy Analyst at the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, responded.
 
“Judge Erlick demands that the Legislature perform an impossible task: to identify to the dollar a single number that represents the exact cost per student of basic education. There is no one-size-fits-all answer in any area of education,” says Cieslak, “including funding.”
 
“This decision shows what happens when judges interfere in policy. Judge Erlick presupposes that every education dollar is well spent—a claim few teachers would make. In most cases half or less of education funding ends up in the classroom. Increasing ‘education’ dollars—without restructuring how they are spent—is worse than useless.”

School funding “adequacy” lawsuits like Washington’s have taken place all over the country. “Rather than proving a relationship between increased spending and better student performance,” Cieslak reports, “experts fear the negative impact of plaintiff victories on quality education.”
 
The Freedom Foundation last year released a commentary <http://www.effwa.org/main/article.php?article_id=2902&number=51> summarizing such studies.
 
Last November, the Washington Supreme Court unanimously ruled to leave decisions on minutiae of education funding to the legislature in its decision on Federal Way School District v. Washington. Cieslak says, “We expect the McCleary decision will be reversed if the State appeals. Appeals courts have repeatedly ruled it is the duty of the legislature to define basic education and to determine how best to discharge its constitutional duty.”
 
Cieslak is available for comment.

The Evergreen Freedom Foundation is a non-profit, non-partisan, public policy research group that works to advance individual liberty, free enterprise, and limited, accountable government. The Freedom Foundation has been operating for 19 years and has more than 5,000 members. This release should not be construed as an attempt to support or oppose any legislation.

Additional Information:
Audio Clips Available: http://www.effwa.org/main/page.php?number=469.