During the last half hour of the October Wahkiakum School District Board of Directors meeting, the directors discussed the district’s lawsuit against the State of Washington and strategized strengthening support for it, including financially, at a coming Washington State School Director’s Association conference in November.
The district and their lawyer, Thomas Ahearne of Foster Garvey, have asked for a direct review from the Washington State Supreme Court after the lawsuit was initially dismissed with prejudice in Wahkiakum Superior Court by Judge Donald Richter on June 24.
Why would other districts support Wahkiakum’s lawsuit? Because a win could benefit other districts around the state who rely on local bonds to provide adequate and safe facilities for their students.
Wahkiakum has raised $50,000 so far, Freeman said. The money will be used to pay legal fees.
He also told the board that it was safe to say that half the school districts in the immediate vicinity were supportive.
Director Shawn Merz, who attended a recent Longview school board meeting with Freeman, praised him for his efforts to persuade that board to support the lawsuit.
“The fact that no one has done this before, it’s shocking to me that little Wahkiakum is the one that is standing up against the state on this issue,” Freeman said. “Again, hats off to the five of you for having the vision, and being willing to take the risk here. And it’s shocking to me how many schools have known about this but have never even thought about what the pathway could look like.
“It had to be a perfect storm. I think all those things had to come together. Tom had to be on board. All of our avenues were exhausted. I think that’s why,” said one of the directors.
Director Paula Culbertson asked if Ahearne, the winning litigator in the landmark McCleary case, had been approached in the past.
“There have been several articles nationally about the infrastructure on a national basis for schools. It’s not just here, but we lucked out with the way the constitution was written. A lot of states don’t have that ability,” Director Bobbi Stefan said.
Freeman pointed out that many states don’t have a constitution that calls ample funding for education “paramount,” but still solve this issue.
“I can’t see how anybody could say your facilities don’t determine outcomes,” he added.
School superintendents meet with legislators once a year, at the end of November.
“This is already on legislator’s minds. If there is no interest, then I’m going to tell people there’s no interest, but if there is a lot of interest I want to be able to go back to the legislators specifically when we meet them in southwest Washington and say half of the school districts in our area are on this, that are vested in this,” he said.
He added that an emergency grant that legislators are proposing to increase funding for falls short as well.
As for messaging, Freeman encouraged the board to consider two words when they talk with other school directors at the conference: paramount and excludes.
“And then you have to fund it,” Anderson said.
