On May 14, the Mercer Island School District (MISD) Board of Directors voted unanimously to send a letter to legislators with the message that school funding in Senate Bill 6109 is too restrictive and will have negative impacts on students.
School board members said that the current legislation would result in an erosion of the MISD’s current educational system. It could require the district to revert to a six-period day, significantly and negatively impacting the elective program at the same time that the credits required for graduation are increasing.
Read the full letter below or through the Mercer Island Schools website:
May 14, 2015
The Hon. Senator Steve Litzow The Hon. Senator Cyrus HabibThe Hon. Representative Ross Hunter The Hon. Representative Joan McBrideThe Hon. Representative Tana Senn The Hon. Representative Judy Clibborn
Dear Honorable Senators and Representatives:
The Mercer Island School District’s Board of Directors recently discussed pending legislationpertaining to school funding, and while we are pleased with the commitment both chambers haveshown to date in their respective budget proposals toward fulfilling the state’s obligations underMcCleary, we are concerned with the language in recent proposals, particularly SB 6109, thatmay severely limit our ability to continue to provide local enhancements that go beyond thestate’s definition of basic education and could severely degrade the quality of education currentlyprovided by our and other districts.
With regard to salaries, we are supportive of the intent of SB 6109 to have the state pay the fullcost of competitive, professional-level salaries statewide taking into account regional cost-of-livingvariance, and to reduce or eliminate the use of local levy authority to make up forshortfalls in state funding via the use of TRI contracts to provide livable wages in high cost ofliving regions, such as ours.
However, we believe the language currently in SB 6109 is overly and unnecessarily broad andrestrictive in preventing the use of local levy dollars for any enhancements to Basic Education,including the use of TRI contracts for their intended purpose, that is, to fairly compensate stafffor additional time and responsibility, and for incentives, such as additional compensation forsuperior performance, as well as taking on difficult or hard-to-staff assignments.
Moreover, it is vital to the educational programs highly valued by the citizens of our communitythat any restrictions on the use of local levy dollars be written in a way that allows districts to usetheir authorized levy funds both to augment Basic Education and provide additional enrichmentopportunities in accordance with the will of taxpayers in our district and the needs of ourstudents. Levy Authority without the flexibility to expend these taxpayer-approved funds in thisway will destroy many of our current programs and jeopardize the many positive studentoutcomes we have thus far been able to achieve.
Current program enhancements that would be severely impacted or eliminated include: the 7-period day presently offered at Mercer Island High School (which is even more critical now,with the new 24-credit graduation requirement, in order to provide student choice andpersonalized learning opportunities); class-sizes significantly below the levels state fundingpresently allows; our award-winning music, art and drama programs; our K-12 World Languageprogram; Advanced Placement classes and other academic acceleration programs; our broadarray of College and Career Readiness (CCR) elective choices; and, a variety of social/emotionallearning programs that help meet the mental health needs of students.
The clear intent of the McCleary decision is to ensure that the state provides ample funding forthe state-defined Basic Education program for every student in every district – not to denycitizens and communities their right to fund local enhancements and enrichment programs thatexceed the statewide minimum. Local experimentation with educational programs allowsdistricts to innovate, adopt best practices and find more cost-effective ways of deliveringservices, making better use of state funds. SB 6109 curtails such local variation and innovationby constraining every district to the lowest common denominator.
Therefore, the Mercer Island Board of Directors unanimously opposes SB 6109 in its currentform. For the benefit of students, parents, staff, and citizens, we strongly urge you to modifySB 6109 or replace it with legislation that affords the citizens and taxpayers of this state with thecontinued opportunity to support their local, public school systems at levels above and beyondwhat the state defines as “basic.”
Sincerely,
Brian Emanuels, Vice President
Director Pat Braman, Legislative Chair
Director Adair Dingle
Director Dave Myerson
Director Ralph Jorgenson
