Supreme Court hears fair school funding appeal

The Washington state Supreme Court heard a case filed against the state by Federal Way Public Schools last Thursday. The Federal Way school district claims the state's current system for determining school district funding is unfair.
King County Superior Court Judge Michael Heavey granted Federal Way Public School's suit Nov. 2, 2007. In his decision, he described it as temporary until the state Supreme Court ruled on the issue.
As Leavey explained it, school districts receive a certain amount of funding per pupil. The number of students determines the number of staff members allocated in the classified (paraeducators, food service employees, secretaries, bus drivers...), certificated (teachers, counselors) and administrator categories. The three categories each have three funding ranges, which is where the disparity comes from, and the reason why there are 258 different funding levels for the state's 295 school districts, according to the Nov. 2, 2007 opinion.
The ranges are based on the salaries the individual district paid staff during the 1976-77 school year, according to the Federal Way Public Schools Web site.
According to a calculator the Federal Way School District created, it was underpaid by around $6.5 million this school year and the Stanwood-Camano School District was underfunded by about $1.6 million.