Washington Business Fall 2015 | Legislative Review | Page 16

2015 legislative review Education & Workforce Development Amy Anderson: Education, Workforce, Federal Issues, and AWB Institute Once again, K-12 education funding was a primary conversation throughout the 2015 session, culminating with a budget that included the largest new K-12 investment in Washington state legislative history. With a mandate from the state Supreme Court to adequately fund schools, the Legislature had to address the difficult issues of levy reform, class size, and student assessments in order to develop a budget and plan going forward that would satisfy the McCleary decision and the Supreme Court’s continued oversight. The final $1.3 billion increase — equating to 19 percent — provided for all-day kindergarten, smaller class sizes in grades K-3, a teacher mentoring program, and a cost-of-living adjustment for teachers. Several measures were introduced this year that attempted to address the constitutional and equity issues facing K-12 school funding that were Amy Anderson, AWB government affairs director for education and workforce, testifies on Senate raised by the state Supreme Court in bills 6103 and 6109, regarding education funding. the McCleary decision. At the core is the over-reliance on local property tax levies to fund the program of basic education, such as teacher and principal salaries, collective bargaining agreements and health care benefits. The cost to remedy the situation is roughly $3 billion every two years. We expect lawmakers to continue discussing a plan to address levy reform, and how to pay for it, in 2016 to ensure the state is in compliance with the McCleary ruling by the statutory 2018 deadline. Early learning and post-secondary education were also given boosts in the budget. Lawmakers passed the first-ever cut to college tuition — a 15 percent tuition reduction for the University of Washington and Washington State University; a 20 percent tuition reduction at regional universities; and a 5 percent tuition drop at community and technical colleges. The state made a $134 million investment in early learning to expand preschool, fund the Early Start Act,