Washington State educators may have to wait another year for a new school funding formula, the state’s budget director said Thursday.
The state is under pressure by the Supreme Court to come up with a new funding formula after it ruled the existing one inadequate and unconstitutional. It’s fining the state $100,000 a day until it comes up with a new one.
Budget director David Schumacher told the Associated Press Thursday that his staff and lawmakers will likely not be able to come up with a new funding formula and get it to the governor’s desk by the end of this session. The high court has set a deadline of 2018. Lawmakers and Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat are attempting to tackle how to pay their fair share of transportation, all-day kindergarten and other things, Schumacher said.
“We are not waiting until then to get started,” Schumacher said. “Just because there are no public discussions, doesn’t mean we aren’t working on this.”
Lawmakers have proposed a funding formula but it doesn’t specify where the money would come from, according to the Associated Press.