This article was published at The Washington Policy Center on Oct 6, 2026: https://www.washingtonpolicy.org/publications/detail/is-mccleary-really-to-blame-for-washingtons-budget-woes During a recent debate on repealing the state income tax, opponents of I-645 claimed that the state budget's rapid expansion is driven by the Supreme Court’s McCleary decision. K–12 funding has grown rapidly since that decision, but since 2019, spending on everything else has expanded nearly three times as fast, accounting for nearly three-quarters of total state budget growth. The Supreme Court formally ended its oversight of the McCleary decision in June 2018. McCleary enforced the state’s … [Read more...]
Enhancement Levys and their burden
These examples are in Northern WA State but are relevant. Yelm Community Schools has more than 3x the seniors over age 65 poverty compared to Bethel's School District and 31% higher seniors over age 65 poverty compared to North Thurston. Yelm taxpayers have an elderly population that needs protection so they can stay in their homes. According to this data, Yelm Community Schools had 92,014 less population, 15,106 less FTE students, and 390 less FTE teachers than Bethel School District. According to this data, Yelm Community Schools had 79,119 less population, 9,089 less FTE students, and 255 less FTE teachers than North Thurston School District. Home … [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...]