'Our kids need help.' Washington schools chief calls for tax reforms to fund education

Washington’s current tax code is unsustainable, hurts public schools and middle-class families, and needs reform.

That was state Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal’s top message Thursday during his annual “State of Education” address.

“It’s broken, and it’s time for Democrats to admit that. It’s time for Republicans to drop the rhetoric that all taxes are bad,” he said. “We have vital services in the state that have to be paid for. The economy will continue to grow for the next 100 years, but the share of it going to public services will shrink if we do nothing, and the frustration of putting that tax burden increasingly on middle-class families has got to change.”

This comes just over two weeks after Gov. Bob Ferguson unveiled his proposed supplemental budget for next year. The proposal includes around $800 million of cuts, including a nearly $147 million reduction in education spending.

But Ferguson also expressed support for a "millionaires' tax” — a major shift for the governor, who had previously rejected the idea even as the state faced another multi-billion-dollar shortfall last year.

RELATED: Gov. Ferguson says he wants to see a 'millionaires' tax' in Washington state

Reykdal joined Democrats in pushing back against the governor’s proposal last month, saying it “takes an austerity approach” that “closes the holes in Washington’s budget on the backs of public services.”

“I reject the notion that in Washington, a state that is so deeply committed to opportunity, our only choice is to cut public services because fair taxation isn’t possible,” Reykdal wrote in a Dec. 23 statement.

Washington’s top education leader reiterated that belief Thursday — but Reykdal’s remarks also marked a shift in tone.

Another 'McCleary moment'?

For years, Reykdal has used this annual address to push state lawmakers to increase public school funding.

Last year, he went so far as to say Washington was at another McCleary moment, referencing the landmark 2012 case in which the state Supreme Court ruled the Legislature had failed to fulfill its constitutional duty to adequately fund public schools.

RELATED: In era of budget cuts, Washington schools chief calls for more ed funding

The court’s decision back then resulted in billions of dollars of new funding for education. But after the court ruled the state had finally fulfilled its “paramount duty” of funding public schools in 2018, progress has fallen off.

While public school funding comprised about half of the state’s budget in the 2017-19 biennium, it dropped to around 43% in the current biennium. Reykdal said Thursday that Ferguson's budget proposal would keep education funding at the same level.

Courts have repeatedly interpreted Washington state's constitution as prohibiting graduated taxes, which means income taxes for different earning levels isn't possible. This is why Washington leans heavily on property or sales taxes, which can be absorbed better or worse depending on a person's income.

This reality is why Reykdal argues that taxes are more burdensome for middle-class Washingtonians. It's also why he reiterated on Thursday that Washington's tax system is untenable for public schools, as they continue to grapple with this chronic underfunding at the state level, along with skyrocketing operation costs and declining enrollment.

The superintendent didn’t offer a specific remedy to the tax issue, such as a constitutional amendment, but he challenged “all the folks in the state of Washington to think about this question — not from a place of rage, but a place that’s solution-based.”

“Our kids need help,” he said.

While the governor did his best in a challenging budget situation, Reykdal said the state can’t afford any cuts to education funding. Reykdal said he’d like to see “a good billion dollars or more” for education, specifically to address the “immediate crisis” that is inflation.

But he also acknowledged that this year will likely not be one for major improvements to education funding.

So instead, Reykdal hopes lawmakers will at least start the tax reform conversation this session.

“Let’s be honest: The Legislature has a lot on their plate. This isn’t the year where in 60 days you can do a massive overhaul of the tax code,” he said. “But they better make progress on setting up the opportunity to do that.”