One B

The McCleary Myth: In 2012, the Washington State Supreme Court issued the landmark McCleary v. State of Washington ruling. The court declared that the state was failing its “paramount duty” to appropriately fund K-12 public education. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle responded by aggressively restructuring the state tax code and significantly increased funding for our public education system. The state now spends roughly $8.5 billion more per yearon public schools than it did before the McCleary decision—representing a 60% increase in the state’s biennial education budget. If educational spending correlated directly with student achievement, Washington would boast some of the top academic results in the country. Instead, the data reveals the inverse relationship: while public school funding sits at an all-time high, student proficiency in fundamental subjects has plummeted to historic lows. The state’s powerful teachers unions, led by the Washington Education Association (WEA), successfully leveraged the court's mandate to divert billions of dollars into compensation, while systematically failing the students they are supposed to be educating. The original intent of the McCleary lawsuit was to ensure that every student in Washington, regardless of zip code, received an equitable, high-quality education. However, once the Legislature allocated billions of new dollars to fulfill the court's mandate, the WEA effectively hijacked our tax dollars. Rather than allowing these historic funds to target classroom sizes, advanced learning opportunities, or intensive academic interventions for struggling students, the WEA orchestrated a wave of high-profile teacher strikes across the state. By withholding instruction, the union forced local school districts to route the vast majority of the McCleary windfall directly into massive, double-digit salary increases. By 2023, Washington state teacher salaries had jumped to the fifth highest in the United States. Yet, this escalation in payroll yielded no accountability or performance requirements. The state adopted a standardized "one size fits all" funding model that distributed money blindly rather than directing it to high-poverty districts or learning recovery. As a result, Washington recently received an F grade from the Education Law Center for its severe failure to direct its massive per-pupil funding to the low-income and rural students who need it most. The structural rot of an education system centered around adult employees became painfully obvious during the COVID-19 pandemic. Long after state health metrics and national guidelines indicated it was safe to return to hybrid or in-person learning, the WEA and its local chapters aggressively fought to keep Washington’s physical school buildings locked. While private schools down the street safely welcomed students back to physical classrooms, public school students were subjected to months of fractured, ineffective remote learning screens. The union prioritized job protections, reduced instructional hours, and remote work leniency over the blatant developmental and psychological regression of the children. The most stark example of systemic failure is found in Washington's high schools, where standardized testing is tracked in the 10th grade. High school reading scores have slowly managed to climb back to their pre-pandemic baseline of 71%, demonstrating that students can recover when basic tools are provided. However, high school mathematics has been utterly abandoned by the educational establishment. High school math proficiency in Washington plummeted into the low 20% range following the extended school closures and has stagnated completely, sitting at a dismal 31% proficiency rate. Instead of treating a 69% math failure rate among high school sophomores as an emergency, the educational establishment responded by attempting to dismantle accountability.