Now It Will Get Real on McCleary Funding

The Dems will be releasing their proposal for the budget, including McCleary funding, today at noon. It will be televised on TVW.


Comments

Outsider said…
Just wondering -- what funding level would the pro-tax faction consider adequate? Leaving aside the issue of lump sum vs. per student funding, the proposed funding level of $12,500 per non-special student strikes me (naive as I am) like a lot. The amount actually spent on non-special students at the building level in Seattle is about half that. I assume that districts are still allowed to raise capital budgets via levy, so where is all this per-student money going? What is the rationale for saying indignantly that it's not enough?
3/27/17, 3:02 PM
Melissa Westbrook said…
Outsider, so that total is not all state dollars but yes, it is a large sum.

But let's go over what that provides:

- teachers
- other school staff including principal,custodian, office staff, counselors, etc.
- books and other supplies
- preventative and emergency maintenance
- building utilities
- headquarters and the staff there
- specialty staff like nurses
- technology (which has to be maintained and updated)
- testing

There's a lot more than that but you get the idea.

The capital levies - at least for Seattle - are way behind because of the number of buildings being served and the number of aging buildings that the district has.

It would be interesting to ask the district to break down the basic per pupil funding down to one student.

I note that when I hear GOP members say they want accountability, well, there is a budget for every single district. But when I ask the question - how would YOU spend the money differently? - I never have received an answer. Not a single time.
3/27/17, 5:18 PM
Anonymous said…
RE: Outsider - I agree that this $12,500 number in isolation is hard to gauge. For me, what puts this number into context are the stats that show how WA school funding compares to other US states.
-WA is the 10th wealthiest state but the 42nd in funding.
-WA puts less than 3% of GDP into education funding.That's less than 48 other states.

These stats embarrass and frustrate me. All of our kids deserve better than this.

-Mark
3/28/17, 8:20 AM
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