Education Week - October 11, 2023 - 6

Do K-12 Students Have a Right to
Well-Funded School Buildings?
A Washington state court didn't fully answer
the question, but advocates elsewhere could argue
for more state support for school facilities
By Mark Lieberman
Nearly every state's constitution
includes a right to a free, basic education
for all children. But what exactly
do states owe every student?
That question is far from settled.
Case in point: A school district in
rural Washington state recently argued
before the state's highest court
that a constitutional commitment to
education includes adequate funding
from the state for school building
improvements. The court didn't
quite agree.
This case might seem like a one-off
local example of confusing technicalities
in school finance. But it's part of
a longstanding and ongoing tradition
of using the byzantine American judicial
system to shape school funding.
And the verdict has implications
that could reverberate well beyond
Washington state.
The 400-student Wahkiakum
school district on the state's southwestern
tip sued the state in 2021,
arguing that it owes local school districts
in low-wealth areas more financial
support to keep their buildings
safe and modern. But on Sept. 7, the
Washington Supreme Court issued a
unanimous verdict that sidestepped
the district's question. The court simply
rejected the notion that the state
bears sole responsibility for school
facilities improvements.
The verdict was disappointing for
Tom Ahearne, the lead lawyer representing
the school district. He believes
judges ignored the plaintiff's
argument that the state bears some
responsibility for school facilities
funding, not necessarily all of it.
" What all nine of them agreed to do
is not answer the question that was
asked, answer a different question,
and then let the legislature do something, "
Ahearne told Education Week.
The details of the case in Washington
state are emblematic of the much
larger national problem of suboptimal
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How bad are school building
conditions?
The Wahkiakum district has three
school buildings: two built in the
1950s, and one from the early 1990s.
The district has publicly shared
instances of flooding bathrooms,
freezing classrooms, and inadequate
equipment for science lessons.
Voters there last approved a construction
bond more than two decades
ago.
The Wahkiakum district's experience
is far from unique:
* A North Carolina school district
recently postponed by two weeks the
start of the school year to deal with
mold in many of its buildings.
* A public elementary school in
New Hampshire shut down permanently
because walls had become
displaced, and the building was no
longer safe to occupy.
* Numerous Philadelphia schools
have shut down in recent months due
to asbestos.
* Several school buildings in Connecticut
recently saw massive floods
and standing water that came through
school facilities, especially in lowerincome
communities without robust
local property tax revenue.
Why do some districts struggle to
fund building improvements?
School districts fund facilities projects
like roof and HVAC system replacements,
building additions, and
new facilities, with " capital funds, "
which are separate from everyday operating
expenses for things like salaries
and instructional materials. To fund
these sizable and multi-step projects,
districts often turn to voters to approve
bonds that districts can pay back with
interest over a number of years.
But many districts struggle to
raise enough money from local
taxpayers to cover the cost of facilities
projects, which often amount
to tens of millions of dollars for a
single building.
In 2021, only seven states supplied
more than 50 percent of funds for
school building projects, according to
the State of Our Schools report from
that year from the International Well
Building Institute and a coalition of
school facilities advocates. Fourteen
states left facilities funding entirely in
the hands of local districts. Another
seven states only chipped in between
zero and 10 percent of construction
costs.
Overall, local funding in 2021 accounted
for 77 percent of spending
on school facilities construction, according
to the report.
In a handful of states, including
Washington and Idaho, voting laws
also make school building improvements
tougher to fund through borrowing.
To get a bond approved, districts
have to get 60 percent of voters
to support it, rather than a simple
majority.
" When you have a supermajority,
the minority determines if your bond
is going to get passed, " said Jim Kowalkowski,
director of the Rural Education
Center, an organization that
advocates for Washington's rural districts
from within Washington State
University's College of Education.
ceiling and window leaks, malfunctioning
drainage systems, and window
cracks.
The nation's schools collectively
need tens of billions of dollars to ensure
they're safe and modern.
" Every different measurement
you can possibly think of for building
quality-air quality, building
age, spending-is all disproportionately
negatively impacting higherpoverty
communities, " said David
Knight, an associate professor of
education finance and policy at the
University of Washington College
of Education.
Washington district sued for
'essential needs'
The Wahkiakum district hoped to
convince the state that it's constitutionally
obligated to supply enough
funds for districts to pay for essential
building needs. " Enhancements, " or
additional building features beyond
what's standard, would still be covered
by local funds, the district argued
in the legal complaint.
The state Supreme Court acknowledged
that building conditions in
Wahkiakum, and likely many other
districts, are inadequate. But it punted
on the question of whether the state
bears some responsibility for ensuring
that's not the case.
However, that's a question courts
in other states could take up. Education
advocates often look to recent
verdicts in other states to shape
legal strategies for their own cases,
Knight said.
Ahearne is no stranger to such efforts.
He was heavily involved in the
McCleary court case in Washington
state that successfully yielded major
school funding increases in the mid2000s.
The
Wahkiakum case is over for
now, though lawyers could revive the
issue if the state passes any sort of
new law providing funding support
for school facilities improvements.
And Ahearne believes there's a strong
case to be made that failing to adequately
fund school buildings violates
state and federal constitutional
clauses around equal protection under
the law.
" That's a battle for future days, " he
said.
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Education Week - October 11, 2023

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