People speak up at ‘School Funding Crisis’ Eastside Town Hall

Voices were filled with passion during a packed “School Funding Crisis” Eastside Town Hall gathering on the evening of Jan. 8 at Sammamish High School in Bellevue.

School district leaders, students, PTAs and teachers from Mercer Island, Renton, Bellevue, Lake Washington and Issaquah were out in full force as they stood strong and spoke out about how “the state of Washington continues to fall short of its paramount, constitutional duty to fully fund basic K-12 education,” according to an event flier.

The situation has forced — in some districts statewide — school closures, increased class sizes, program cuts, reduced class periods, staffing cuts, severe shortfalls in special education and transportation, according to the flier.

At one point during the town hall, an Eastside resident told the crowd, “We are in pain,” when discussing tough times on the schools front.

Several legislators were present at the event, including District 41 Sen. Lisa Wellman and Rep. My-Linh Thai, along with Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) Chris Reykdal.

According to Mercer Island School District, the state covers just 74% of district costs for special education services statewide, which is a $590 million gap to meet state and federal requirements; and the state’s investment in education decreased by $1,000 per student from 2018-2023, when adjusted for inflation.

About 450 attendees, some holding signs emblazoned with “Protect Fine Arts!” and other potent messages, jammed into the performing arts center — with a portion of the crowd overflowing into the commons area — for the nearly two-hour event. The agenda featured current challenges and research, student and educator experiences, legislative landscape, community action and a Q&A with legislators and elected officials.

Fifteen students representing all the districts led the event, which included a powerful introduction from Jane Aras of the Bellevue PTSA Council. She spoke of the students being future leaders and that schools are a “sacred space for our students where they can thrive.”

During the evening, many of the speakers mentioned the school system needing increased funding for the “Big 3” — special education, transportation and materials, supplies and operating costs (MSOC) — and supporting a pair of legislative priorities — a progressive taxation system and a progressive funding allocation.

Julianna Dauble of the Renton Education Association took to the microphone and addressed the crowd: “I can say since 2001, yes, kids have changed, the world has changed. The purpose of schools have changed. But if public education is going to survive the next era of American history, we cannot keep going the status quo of funding in Washington state.”

She concluded her speech with this hard-hitting message that drew thunderous applause after it was delivered: “Teaching is hard, being a legislator is hard, but it’s not gonna get easier without the bravery and the courage of our elected leaders in this room and those across the state. The kids are watching.”

University of Washington professor David Knight delved into “Redesigning Washington’s Public School Finance System to be More Equitable and Efficient,” and closed out his presentation with a crucial slide that read, in part: “The best systems provide all students with a fighting chance.”

As Reykdal eyed the crowd and the students next to him on stage, he noted: “I hope to leave you in the next four minutes with an absolute conviction about one thing and one thing only — we are the fourth wealthiest state in the United States of America on a per-capita basis and we are woefully underfunding our schools.”

Mercer Island School District Superintendent Dr. Fred Rundle joined other school district superintendents Heather Tow-Yick (Issaquah), Dr. Jon Holmen (Lake Washington) and Dr. Kelly Aramaki (Bellevue) to discuss the funding situation.

Aramaki said that it’s “unconscionable” not to have full funding for special education. Several attendees echoed that sentiment throughout the evening.

Rundle said it’s time to lean in to the state Legislature for help in the funding realm.

“We have some of the finest who have supported public ed. I know they’ve got a tough job to do down in Olympia to try to convince some of their colleagues to join along,” he said. “Thank you for being here tonight. It means the world to us, and most importantly, to these individuals (students) right here who we show up for each and every day.”

Later in the Q&A portion of the event, District 45 Rep. Roger Goodman said: “Count on me for full support of our schools.”

Mercer Island High School students Ava Zhang, Lucy Dorer, Jon Anderson and Julius Perez shared their thoughts about the funding situation while representing all schools from all districts across the state.

“We want our legislators to hear from students in the region about our concerns for school districts’ fiscal insecurity and we want them to know that we value our public schools, teachers and administrators very much,” Dorer said.

When asked by an attendee what people from the school communities can do to try and make full funding a reality, District 45 Sen. Manka Dhingra said, in part: “Each and every one of you needs to have an honest, grown-up conversation on what does it cost to run our state. We love working here, we love living here, we love our schools here, we love our parks, we love everything about this. What does it cost to continue our style of living? So we have make very tough decisions. I’m gonna need all of you to help us get us there because we have to raise revenue,” she said.