Published at ClarkCountyToday.com Jan 20, 2026 https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/opinion/opinion-mcclearys-promise-and-washingtons-k-12-reality/ When the Washington Supreme Court decided McCleary v. State of Washington in 2012, it delivered a landmark ruling: the state had failed its “paramount duty” under Article IX of the Washington Constitution to make “ample provision for the education of all children.” The word “ample,” the Court emphasized, meant more than adequate. It meant full, sufficient, and dependable support for basic education, funded primarily by the State rather than by unstable local levies. The ruling was legally sound and morally compelling. Yet more than a … [Read more...]
Washington Ranked 34th in Math Recovery and 26th in Reading Between 2019 and 2024
Today we bring you a report card on Washington State K-12 schools. This report, in its original format, can be found at: Washington - Education Recovery Scorecard For the national press release and findings click here. At the bottom of the original article are links to all school districts in Washington State. Washington Ranked 34th in Math Recovery and 26th in Reading Between 2019 and 2024 Average student achievement in Washington remains half a grade level below 2019 levels in math and in reading. A sharp rise in chronic absenteeism (students missing more than 10% of a school year) from 15% of students in 2019 before the pandemic to 30% in 2023 is slowing the recovery … [Read more...]
Facing mounting challenges, schools embrace the 4-day week
We've run articles in the past about shortening the school week to 4 days. Today is an update from The Hill: Facing mounting challenges, schools embrace the 4-day week | The Hill 850 districts have made the move and more are considering Hundreds of U.S. school districts have sought to combat the teacher shortage and raise the quality of life for their students and faculty by making a big change: a four-day week. The trend of a four-day week has been rising among American companies and schools since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, with many finding benefits to having an extra day off. In schools, most students and teachers are getting Friday or Monday off while having … [Read more...]
Washington State K-12 compensation and other data
Our friend Jeff has a website we've mentioned before. Given the strikes at Evergreen and Camas and talk of striking at Battle Ground and other districts around the state we reached out to Jeff asking for an overview of the information he tracks. Following is that discussion with links to his website and data for your perusal. Note: Jeff does an annual update in December to capture the most current data published by OSPI. This data is entirely from OSPI. Jeff amalgamates and organizes it. So if someone claims the data is false refer them to Chris Reykdal the State Superintent of Schools. I have these charts already online for all 295 traditional school districts in WA plus most of … [Read more...]
Washington State Average Class Size report
What’s the true size of classes across the state? Teachers say the class sizes are huge...often 25+. Data from reports filed with the state say they are often under 20 with 17-19 tending to be more normal. Claims that the class sizes are too large leads to hiring more teachers leading to more taxes. How about we get some facts? In today's article we explore data gathered by our data guru Jeff Heckathorn which can be seen at this website: Welcome to the School Data Project! | The School Data Project Here are some observations that can be seen in the report: http://www.schooldataproject.com/average_class_size Most small districts (e.g., South Whidbey, Republic, Onion Creek) have … [Read more...]
How well do you know your School Board and what they do?
So how well do you know your local school board? Do you care? Why should you care? What do they do and what powers do they have? When and where do they meet? Let's see if we can give you some links and information that may be useful: List of school districts in Washington State: http://www.k12.wa.us/maps/SDmainmap.aspx After clicking the link above find your district in the alphabetic list When you get to the district's website click the "Search" box and type "school board" (no quotes) That should get you to the boards calendar with details on where and when they meet Should you care? We hope so. These people are making decisions about building and … [Read more...]