The Chronicle Editorial Board’s recent endorsement of John Braun for Congress mentions the McCleary school funding negotiations, calling it technical and complicated.
School levy issues weren’t complicated before Braun changed the formula. Local school levies had been capped as a percent of most state and federal funds a district receives. With the new equalization formula, levy equalization was cut dramatically and local levies went up.
Centralia’s equalization funding went from $2.7 million per year in 2018 to $73,000 last year. Chehalis went from $1.8 million to $104,000. Mossyrock, Adna, Winlock and Onalaska went from hundreds of thousands to $0.
The Basic Education Act in 1977 capped levies at 10 percent. It was raised to 20 percent with levy equalization added in 1987. It was later raised to 24 percent, then 28 percent. The McCleary lawsuit then ruled schools were too dependent on levies and had to reduce it.
Levy equalization had provided state matching funds in property poor school districts so no district needed more than the state average tax rate for the first half of the levy. Without equalization, it takes far higher tax rates in poorer districts to collect the same per student dollars as richer districts. Equalization keeps levy rates lower for the poorer districts.
Reducing dependence on levies could have been a simple matter: Lower the percent a levy could be back down to 10 percent with required levy equalization included.
But, with Braun’s support as chair of Senate Ways and Means, the formula changed and levy equalization was no longer guaranteed. Braun gave up our guaranteed tax break from equalization. It now gets voted on separately and doesn’t automatically go up when levy capacity goes up.
Levies were capped in 2018 at $2,500 per student with a $1.50 tax rate. The rate has since been raised to $2.50 with a cap of $3,100. No longer tied to levy limit percentages, levy equalization fell behind. In 2024, Braun sponsored a bill to increase equalization. It didn’t even get a hearing. Braun voted to end the guarantee pairing levy increase limits with equalization and now equalization can’t keep up. This year, $25 million more in levy equalization was cut. And another $128 million is scheduled to end in 2028. Braun blew it on equalization.
The other funding issue easy to understand is salaries. Before Braun, all districts received the same funding for teachers. Braun advocated and voted to give the richest districts up to 18 percent more than any districts in Lewis County.
Research shows rural areas have the toughest time attracting and retaining teachers. Urban schools used local levy money to add pay supplements, but now it’s paid from our state taxes. We deserve to get an equal return for our teachers.
Braun, as chair of Ways and Means, could have insisted the formulas not change. He could have lowered levy dependence to satisfy McCleary by lowering the percent a levy could be and keeping equalization guaranteed. But he didn’t. He has hurt our students, teachers, schools, and taxpayers.
Neal Kirby
Centralia
