The state of Washington is violating its constitution by failing to provide adequate financial support for its public schools, a Superior Court judge ruled yesterday.

In a 73-page written opinion, Judge John P. Erlick said the Washington constitution makes public education the “paramount” responsibility of government, and the failure to provide “provide stable and dependable funding for such costs of basic education” is a constitutional violation.

You can listen to Judge Erlick summarizing his decision via public radio station KPLU.

He ordered the state to “determine the cost of amply providing for basic education and a basic program of education for all children”, and then to provide an amount as close “as reasonably practicable” to the actual educational costs.

Erlick’s decision acknowledged the financial crisis facing the state, which has a looming budget deficit of as much as $6 billion for 2010, and left it up to the legislature to devise a funding plan.

This court must acknowledge the deep financial crisis that the State currently faces. It is the Constitutional duty and responsibility of the courts to determine ultimately the scope and reasoning of Const. Art. IX, § 1, and whether the Legislature is complying therewith…. And it is the Constitutional duty and responsibility of the Legislature to act and fulfill its own Constitutional mandate. In the words of President John F. Kennedy, “There are risks and costs to any program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.” All children in Washington “have a ‘right’ to be amply provided with an education. That ‘right’ is constitutionally paramount and must be achieved through a ‘general and uniform system of public schools.’ ”. It is the framers of our Constitution who established the pre-eminence of education in this state. It is the responsibility of the Legislature to effectuate that primary priority of funding basic education, and to determine how that can be accomplished. But it must be accomplished.[legal citations removed]

Could a similar lawsuit succeed here in Hawaii? It appears unlikely.

Washington’s state constitution contains a brief but explicit education provision.

It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders, without distinction or preference on account of race, color, caste, or sex.

This provision is apparently unique.

Washington law recognizes that no other State Constitution imposes a higher
education duty upon the State than Article IX, §1 of the Washington State Constitution does. The Washington Supreme Court has held that the education duty mandated by Article IX, §1 “is unique among State constitutions”, and that “No other State has placed the common school on so high a pedestal.”

Here is the comparable provision from Hawaii’s state contstitution, found in Article X.

Section 1. The State shall provide for the establishment, support and control of a statewide system of public schools free from sectarian control, a state university, public libraries and such other educational institutions as may be deemed desirable, including physical facilities therefor. There shall be no discrimination in public educational institutions because of race, religion, sex or ancestry; nor shall public funds be appropriated for the support or benefit of any sectarian or nonsectarian private educational institution, except that proceeds of special purpose revenue bonds authorized or issued under section 12 of Article VII may be appropriated to finance or assist:
1. Not-for-profit corporations that provide early childhood education and care facilities serving the general public; and
2. Not-for-profit private nonsectarian and sectarian elementary schools, secondary schools, colleges and universities.

In Washington, schools are not to be treated as one priority among many others. Instead, the constitution sets education apart as the state’s “paramount duty”, and requires “ample” resources to be devoted. Whether the word “support” in Hawaii’s constitution (“The State shall provide for the…support…of a statewide system of public schools…”)provides a similar enforceable duty on the part of the state is a question for lawyers, but it seems unlikely to me.