Class size law could require four new classrooms, but school is full

To school officials here, and throughout the state, Initiative 1351, passed by voters in November, is just another financial unfunded nightmare.

The initiative calls for smaller class sizes, an idea that normally would receive little argument. However, there is no provision for funding.

The Legislature, now in session, is faced with the task of funding the number of additional teachers and aides required in smaller classroom sizes, plus classroom space.

Locally, Superintendent Dennis Carlson said this could require four additional classrooms, plus teachers and aides in the Grand Coulee Dam School District.

Already, the new school is short on classrooms. School officials need one more classroom now on the elementary side, due to an unusual spike in student numbers.

Carlson says that at least three classrooms could be arranged in the old high school building by splitting the old home economics room into two spaces, and using the old science room and lab as another. But that building is a good distance from the new building.

The Office of Financial Management estimates that Initiative 1351 could cost the state $4.7 billion through fiscal year 2019, and an additional $1.9 billion each year after.

The initiative did not have a funding source and has a four-year phase-in, with 50-percent implementation in the 2015-2017 biennium and 100 required in 2018-2019.

Why has the education funding issue emerged to haunt state legislators?

In the 2012 McCleary case, the state Supreme Court ruled that the state was in violation of the constitution because of its reliance on local levies and federal funds to fund basic education, rather than direct state-financing programs. The court reaffirmed that it was the Legislature's responsibility to define what basic education would look like in terms of dollar amounts and programs, but concluded the legislators had not done that job.

A budget proposed by Gov. Jay Inslee, for the 2015-2017 biennium, includes a $3.6 billion education package, of which $1.3 billion is dedicated to lowering class sizes in grades K-3.

While his budget is championed as the largest increase in basic-education funding in nearly a quarter of a century, it still falls short of the $4.78 billion needed to fund I-1351.

Legislators are under a lot of pressure to find a way to fund the initiative.