Education funding in Washington State: A history lesson and constitutional mandate

According to Article IX of the Washington State Constitution, the state’s “paramount duty” is to provide an “ample” and “uniform” education for all children.

In 1977, Judge Robert Doran ruled that the state was in violation of the constitution because school districts were relying on local special levies to fund a large portion of the costs of the education system. The Legislature that year responded by passing the Basic Education Act, which defined what the state would pay for in terms of education and the Levy Lid Act, which limited local levies to 10 percent of a school district’s budget.

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