Chris Reykdal is sounding the alarm about school funding. Washington’s superintendent of public education says the state is not doing enough to support schools and that a declining birth rate and a “perfect storm” of financial pressures could undermine public education for years to come.
A lack of financial support likely is news to Washington residents. According to research at Rutgers University, our state ranks 18th in cost-adjusted spending per student at $16,216 per year. The national average is $15,446.
As part of that, the Legislature in 2018 poured millions of additional dollars into K-12 funding to meet the mandate of the state Supreme Court’s McCleary decision. But Reykdal told The Seattle Times: “Imagine you want a full cup of coffee, and you only have half a cup, and the Legislature pours a bunch into your cup, and everyone’s happy, but you still don’t have a full cup of coffee.”
Reykdal says the Rutgers research shows that Washington puts 3.1 percent of its gross domestic product into public education, below the national average of 3.6 percent.
All of which illuminates national debates about public education and the role of schools. As explained by EdWeek.org, a publication covering education issues: “Conventional wisdom and academic consensus on the appropriate amount of money necessary to provide an adequate education continually evolves, just as inflation trends affect the costs of particular services.”
Public education has increasingly become a punching bag for anti-government conservatives. Concerns about what schools are or are not teaching — and falsehoods about the alleged teaching of critical race theory — have come to dominate the discussion.
The result is an obfuscation of the issues facing public education and a distraction from what is actually happening in local schools.
Indeed, schools throughout Washington and elsewhere seem to be at a crossroads. The COVID-19 pandemic and months of remote learning led to a decline in student development — both academically and socially. And the Legislature’s 2018 education investment shortchanged special education and left room for broad disparities from district to district.
Meanwhile, enrollment is declining, in part because of birth rates and in part because many parents are dissatisfied with public education and find private schools or home schooling to be better for their children.
That is the “perfect storm” that concerns Reykdal. And while some changes are necessary, the public is wary of “more money” being constantly presented as the only way to improve public education. U.S. News & World Report ranks New Jersey, Massachusetts and Connecticut as having the best pre-K through 12th grade systems in the nation, and those are not the states that spend the most.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, New Mexico ranks 28th in spending but 50th in education quality, according to analysts.
Washington can do better, and improvements do not necessarily depend on increased funding. Rather than ignore the reasons for parent dissatisfaction, state officials would be wise to explore the reasons for growing discord.
Meanwhile, parents should work toward understanding what is happening in schools rather than blindly embracing the rhetoric of those who speciously find fault with public schools.
Reykdal is right to sound the alarm about changing demographics and the potential impact on public schools; Washington’s economic future depends on an educated workforce. But solutions must extend beyond the trope that more money is needed.
