State Supreme Court rules in Federal Way lawsuit

The Washington Supreme Court has issued a ruling in the Federal Way School District’s lawsuit challenging the State funded salary levels for that district under the current “grandfathered” system.

Although the Federal Way suit and recently completed NEWS trial both involve Article IX of the State Constitution, they deal with different issues. NEWS did not argue section 2 requires a uniform statewide salary figure. NEWS did not argue section 1 requires the State to fund all districts’ salaries at the same level. And, the NEWS case proceeded to a lengthy trial, with witnesses testifying about actual harms to actual people.

More specifically:

The first part of the Federal Way decision dealt with the “uniform system” clause in section 2 of Article IX. The Court rejected the Federal Way plaintiffs’ argument that section 2 requires the State to use the same, uniform salary allocation figure statewide (pages 17-18). As the Court subsequently noted, household cost of living expenses for school district employees differ by as much as 37% from district to district (page 24, footnote 19). In its conclusion, the Court accordingly rejected plaintiffs’ claim that the Legislature’s failure to adopt a uniform statewide salary figure proved that it had failed to provide a “uniform system” under Article IX, section 2 (page 24).

The second part dealt with the “ample provision” clause in section 1 of Article IX. The Court rejected the Federal Way plaintiffs’ argument that the ampleness referenced in section 1 requires the State to fund all school districts at the same salary level (pages 17-18). As the Court noted, cost of living expenses differ by up 37% between districts (page 24, footnote 19). In its conclusion, the Court accordingly rejected plaintiffs’ claim that the State’s failure to fund all school districts at the same salary level proved that the State had failed to make the “ample provision” for the education of children specified in Article IX, section 1 (page 24).

The third part of the Federal Way decision dealt with the “justiciability” threshold of the Declaratory Judgment Act. The Court held that the citizens who had joined as co-plaintiffs with the school district had not submitted evidence of individual harm (pages 19-23). The Court’s conclusion accordingly dismissed the individual plaintiffs’ claims on that “justiciability” ground (page 24).

Since these three rulings do not relate to the recently completed NEWS trial, we continue to await the trial court’s written decision in the NEWS case.

Read the Washington State Supreme Court decision.