Common school support has been recognized as the joint responsibility of the territory or state, the county, and the local district since enactment of the first school law by the Territorial Legislature of 1854. The question at issue throughout the years has been the measure of responsibility of each unit.
In establishing the Permanent School Fund, the 1854 Legislature provided that the interest from the fund should be divided annually among the school districts of the territory on the basis of the number of census children in each district. The support accruing to local districts from this source was relatively small throughout the territorial period because the amount of the Permanent School Fund was extremely limited. The law of 1854 also provided that each board of county
commissioners should levy a two-mill county property tax, the proceeds to make up a county school fund to be used for matching on a fifty-fifty basis the funds raised by local district taxation. To be eligible for county matching funds, a school district had to operate a school for three months during
each school year. Although this early law governing school support was modified from time to time, no adequate provision was made for the support of schools in all districts during the entire territorial period. Only those districts that had a substantial per-pupil valuation found it possible to maintain schools for six months or more during each year.
State Support Since Statehood
The principles on which state financial support of education are based may be found in Sections 1 and 2 of Article IX of the State Constitution: first, that it is “the paramount duty of the State to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders;” and second that there shall be “a uniform system of public schools.” In accordance with these principles, when
Washington became a state it continued apportioning the interest from the Permanent School Fund to the districts. In 1895 the Barefoot School Boy Law was enacted by the Legislature providing for an annual state tax which, when added to the interest of the Permanent School Fund, would equal $6 per annum for each child of school age residing in the state.
The amount of state support was increased later by the Legislature from $6 to $8 for each census child; later still to $10; and, in 1920, to $20. Subsequent to 1920 the following increases in the amount of state support were made by legislative acts: in 1933, to 25 cents for each day of attendance credit computed in the manner prescribed by law or $45 per annum; in 1945, to 30 cents per day or $54 per annum; and in 1953, to 40 cents per day or $72 per annum.
In addition, the 1937 Legislature adopted a special equalization plan whereby the relatively poor districts were given additional state funds to supplement their resources to approximately the state average. Furthermore, since 1943 the state has provided supplemental allotments to districts where special conditions, such as necessarily small classes in the small schools, call for the expenditure of additional funds to maintain reasonable standards of school service.
County Support Since Statehood
The first state legislature made provision for the continuance of county support for schools by increasing the territorial county school levy from 2 mills to a millage that should be not less than 4 mills nor more than 10.5 This more than doubled county school support. In 1909 the county fund was changed to equal the state’s $10 for each census-counted child.
When state school support was changed in 1933 to the attendance day basis, the amount of county support was also changed to 5 cents for each day of attendance credit. This amount was changed from time to time until 1949 when it was fixed at 10 cents for each day of attendance credit, but the county property tax as the source of the revenue was eliminated. The necessary funds were paid to the counties from the proceeds of the statewide motor vehicle tax. Finally, in 1951, the amount of county support was fixed at 17 cents for each day of attendance credit, the funds to be derived from a 1 percent excise tax on the sale of real estate within each county supplemented by allotments from the proceeds of the statewide motor vehicle tax to make up the deficiency, if any, in receipts from the real estate excise tax.
INDEX
—A—
A+ Commission, 21
Alternative certification routes, 69 Appropriations Act, 44, 58, 68, 74 Associated Student Body Fund, 32, 97
—B—
Basic Education Act, 10, 12, 15, 44 Basic education allocation, 44 Better Schools, 13, 70 Bilingual education, 66 Board of directors, 25 Budget process, 31
Business and occupation tax, 38
—C—
Capital Projects Fund, 32, 59, 87, 90, 91 Certificated administrative salaries, 51 Certificated instructional salaries, 48 Child Nutrition Act, 80
Choice law, 117 Classified salaries, 51
Commission on Student Learning, 11, 13 County administered forests, 59
—D—
Debt Service Fund, 32, 59, 87, 91, 93 Definitions
AAFTE, 44
Basic education certificated instructional staff, 45 CAS, 51 CIS, 49 ESD, 21 ESEA, 81 Form F-195, 31 Form F-196, 36 Form F-203C, 31 FTE, 44 Headcount, 61 IASA, 81 IEP, 16 LEA, 64 LEAP, 48 NERC, 58 RCW, 9 SLD, 17 TAV, 75 WAC, 14
Derived base salary, 49 District classification, 26
Doran Decision III, 16
—E—
Education centers, 29 Education for All Act, 59 Education Reform, 11, 66 Educational service districts, 21 Eisenhower Program, 84 Enrollment increases, 48
Enrollment-generated staff units, 44 ESD Nursing Corps, 69
Excess levies, 72
—F—
Federal Forests, 59, 84 Federal Impact Aid, 82 Federal in lieu of taxes, 59 Financial reports, 32 Fire district payments, 59 Fringe benefits, 58
—G—
General accounting practices, 32
—H—
Head start, 83
High and nonhigh school districts, 26 Highly capable students program, 70 Home and hospital allocation, 61 Home-based instruction, 30
Home-based student enrollments, 48
—I—
Indian education programs, 85
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 81 Initiative 728, 13, 71 Institutional education, 67 Insurance benefits, 58 interdistrict cooperative, 76
—L—
LAP, 65LEAP Document 12E, 49 LEAP Document 1S, 48, 49 Legal foundation, 9
Levy authority, 73 Levy base, 74 Levy lid, 73
Local in lieu of taxes, 59
—M—
Maintenance And Operation Levies, 72 Maintenance salaries, 49
Mathematics Helping Corps, 67 Mentor teacher assistance, 67
—N—
Nonemployee-related cost, 58 Nonhigh participation, 75 Nonhigh school districts, 26 Nonpublic agencies, 29
—P—
Payment schedule, 35 Private school enrollments, 48 Private schools, 29 Property tax, 38 Public Law 105-17, 81 Public Law 81-874, 82 Public Law 98-524, 84 Pupil transportation, 61 Pupil-teacher ratios, 105
—R—
Remediation Assistance Act, 65 Ridership, 62 Running start, 48, 117
—S—
Safety net, 16, 61 Sale of bonds, 90 Sales tax, 38School district audits, 36
School Safety Funding, 69 Small schools, 46
Special education allocation, 59 Special education medicaid, 84 Special levies, 72
Special milk program, 80 Staff mix factor, 49
State Board of Education, 14, 19 State constitution, 9
State forests, 59
Statement of Revenues, Expenditures, and Changes in Fund Balance, 32
Substitute teacher pay, 58 Summer enrollments, 48
Superintendent of public instruction, 14, 19 Superintendent's duties, 25
—T—
Tax authority, 41 Timber excise tax, 75 Title I, 81
Title VII, 85
Traffic safety education, 70 Transitional Bilingual Education, 66 Transportation Vehicle Fund, 32, 63, 95 Trust Funds, 32, 97
—V—
Vocational - Secondary and Skills Centers, 47 Vocational Education Act, 84
—W—
Washington Administrative Code, 13
Washington Assessment of Student Learning, 11 Washington Reading Corps, 67