Washington’s public schools languish despite high spending, admits left-leaning newspaper

Money can’t buy you literacy – or in the case of Washington’s public schools, a decent education in reading or math.

So concludes the left-leaning Seattle Times, one of many recent media outlets acknowledging the ineffectiveness of government-funded schools to improve students’ academic performance.

“Despite channeling $9 billion more to public education since the state was sued for underfunding schools in 2012, only half of students can read at grade level,” a recent editorial laments. “Even fewer are performing that well in math. Money matters, absolutely, but how it is spent matters more.” 

The state’s superintendent of public instruction estimates a $3 billion shortfall over the next two years “just to keep up with inflation and cover basics like electricity and liability insurance,” according to the editorial. 

“In the maze of calculations that comprise school funding, observers of every political persuasion agree on one thing: Washington’s method for covering public education is built on fidelity to outdated mathematical formulas, rather than the specific needs of children.” 

‘Confounding conundrums’ highlight inability of funding vs. follow-through 

The editorial highlights one example of legislative action intended to improve educational outcomes that ultimately backfired, such as a 2019 law restricting classrooms to 17 children for elementary grades. 

“If school districts failed to comply, they would lose state funding. Sounds like a reasonable incentive. 

“Yet between 2019-20 and 2023-24, more than half of Washington’s 295 districts gave up money — sometimes millions of dollars — by failing to adhere to this teacher-student ratio because, state officials say, it can cost more to hire staff than the money lost by failing to do so.” 

Such “confounding conundrums” illustrate the futility of trying to legislate change without addressing root causes, according to editorial staffers. 

“Even when ledger sheets indicate that districts are keeping class sizes low, teachers may still have more than 17 children because schools are merely funded to meet the 17:1 ratio. They don’t actually have to follow it.” 

Today the Evergreen State has “the 5th-best paid educators in the country,” the editorial notes, yet it ranked on Insider Monkey’s list of 20 worst public-school systems nationwide. 

“The state spends $19,548 on its per pupil educational expenses as of the academic year 2020-2021,” the outlet noted, adding it used metrics such as pupil-to-teacher ratio, SAT scores and per-student expenditure to calculate each state’s score. 

Frustration with public schools has become one of the reasons for many parents in Washington to choose homeschooling. 

In one example, homeschool mom Holly Baker helped launch a co-op in the Key Peninsula to help her family connect with other area homeschoolers. 

“I don’t particularly love the things that schools are teaching anymore,” she said. “I don’t think school should have any politics in it at all. I don’t appreciate the focus on gender and race. It should be the parent’s job.” 

Special-needs students especially thrive in a homeschool setting, as Jenn Shanks discovered when exploring learning styles for her four children. 

“My oldest learns very differently from his younger sister,” she said. “He is very independent, works on his own timeline. His younger sister needs a little more one-on-one. She is dyslexic and artistic, and she needs more hands-on, manipulative activities. My 10-year-old is autistic, so that is completely different.” 

However, the public-education system fails to take such individual differences into its funding formulas, the Seattle Times admits. 

“Even staunch fiscal conservatives concede Washington is failing its obligation to cover the education of special-needs kids. But there are surely more precise ways to do it. A child who must be fed through a tube likely costs more than one who is dyslexic.  

“Yet our Special Education formulas do not adjust for such fine points — another example of the ways Washington’s school funding is built on abstract calculations, rather than actual student needs.”