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Federal Way Public Schools (FWPS) is a leader in continual innovation among public schools in the state and nation. Bold words, indeed. But Seattle Pacific University and Standard and Poor’s, as well as educational experts across the state, back up that claim. Read more »
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NEWS RELEASE
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Judge Rules in Favor of Federal Way Schools in Fair Funding Lawsuit
This morning in King County Superior Court, the Honorable Judge Michael Heavey declared the state’s current funding system, in particular the LEAP salary allocation table, unconstitutional and a violation of the general and uniform system of schools, Article 9, Section 2.
Further, he ruled that the disparate funding violates the constitutional equal protection rights of Federal Way’s teachers, students and taxpayers.
Federal Way students, parents and taxpayers were represented in the lawsuit by individual board members, parents, and representatives of the district’s administrative, certificated and classified staff. The lawsuit was brought against the state last year to challenge the state’s system of funding, which results in substantial inequities in state funding from one school district to the next.
“We are grateful that Judge Heavey recognized the inequities in the funding system and has ordered the legislature to fix the problem. We are confident that the state legislature will comply with the court’s order,” Superintendent Murphy says.
“Justice was done,” Board Member David Larson says. “It is now in the hands of the legislature to act on the judge’s ruling to finally bring fair and equitable funding to our state’s schools.”
The State of Washington has 30 days to file an appeal with the State Supreme Court. Whether or not the State decides to file an appeal, resolution to the funding system is a function of legislative action.
“There is no rational basis for the differences in funding of school districts,” Superintendent Thomas R. Murphy noted at the time the lawsuit was filed. “The State Legislature has simply taken the school funding inequities declared unconstitutional in 1977 and frozen them in place without any meaningful or substantial change for twenty years.”
Federal Way Public Schools is the 7th largest school district in Washington, yet it ranks 263rd out of the 296 districts in dollars-per-student funding. If Federal Way had been funded at the same rate as the best-funded districts in the 2006-07 school year, the district estimates it could have received $11.5 million more in state and local funding than it will actually receive this year.
“Equitable funding is ethically, morally and legally the right thing to do,” Superintendent Murphy emphasized. The district has made $14 million worth of budget cuts since the 2002-2003 school year, resulting in dramatic reductions in personnel and programs to compensate for inequitable funding.
For more background information, please go to http://www.fwps.org/info/fairfunding/.
With corrections to Federal Way Public Schools data still being made at the state level, the 2007 WASL scores being announced today are still preliminary. However, early analysis shows that Federal Way Public Schools’ 20,000-plus students are making solid improvements in key areas, particularly in mathematics in Grades 3, 5, 7, and 8.
High school students appear to have made slight improvements or remained static over the 2006 results. Last spring’s tenth-grade students, the class of 2009, posted scores as follows:
Reading: 88% (Up one percentile point from 2006)
Writing: 89% (Up five points from last year)
Math: 54% (remains the same as last year)
Science: 43% (Up seven points from last year)
Truman High School tenth-grade students scored notable improvements in reading, going from 76% passing in 2006 to 91.7% passing in 2007, the second highest among the district’s high schools (96% of Public Academy’s tenth graders passed the reading section). However, Truman’s writing scores were even more spectacular, rising from 81 to 100% passing. Public Academy also had 100% of their tenth-grade students passing the writing section.
At the middle school level, seventh grade students posted gains in reading from 66% in 2006 to 73% this past spring. District-wide, they also posted increases in math and writing of about three percentile points. Saghalie’s seventh grade students made a 20.6 point jump in their reading scores to 66.5 passing., while Totem made a 13.6 point increase to 63.6% passing. Illahee Middle School seventh-grade students’ reading scores moved up nearly 17 points to 83.8% passing the section. The school’s math scores also increased, by over 9 points. Sequoyah seventh grade students also had a nine-point increase in math, and posted an 11-point increase in reading.
In general, fourth grade scores in reading and math were slightly down from last year. Eighty percent of the district’s fourth graders passed the reading WASL, while 60% passed the math section. However, several elementary schools posted significant gains:
For official scores, please go to http://reportcard.ospi.k12.wa.us/
Please note that district data is still being updated and corrected at the state level and scores announced today may change somewhat.
August 30, 2007
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