Sch. Districts' Alliance for Adequate Funding of Special Educ. v. State

244 P.3d 1

170 Wash.2d 599

SCHOOL DISTRICTS' ALLIANCE FOR ADEQUATE FUNDING OF SPECIAL EDUCATION, consisting of Bellingham School District No. 501, a municipal corporation; Bethel School District No. 403; Burlington-Edison School District No. 100, a municipal corporation; Everett School District No. 2, a municipal corporation; Federal Way School District No. 210, a municipal corporation; Issaquah School District No. 411, a municipal corporation; Lake Washington School District No. 414, a municipal corporation; Mercer Island School District No. 400, a municipal corporation; Northshore School District No. 417, a municipal corporation; Puyallup School District No. 3, a municipal corporation; Riverside School District No. 416, a municipal corporation; and Spokane School District No. 81, a municipal corporation, Petitioners,

v.The STATE of Washington; Gary Locke, in his capacity as Governor of the State of Washington; Terry Bergeson, in her capacity as Superintendent of Public Instruction; Brad Owen, in his capacity as President of the Senate and principal legislative authority of the State of Washington; Frank Chopp, in his capacity as Speaker of the House of Representatives and principal legislative authority of the State of Washington, Respondents.

No. 82961-6.

Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc.

Argued June 22, 2010.

Decided Dec. 9, 2010.

John Craig Bjorkman, Christopher Lee Hirst, Grace Tsuang Yuan, Gregory J. Wong, K & L Gates, L.L.P., Seattle, WA, for Petitioners.

William Gerard Clark, Newell David Smith, Office of the Attorney General, Seattle, WA, David Alan Stolier, Office of the Attorney General, Olympia, WA, for Respondents.

Susan Kay Schreurs, Tacoma, WA, amicus counsel for Bellingham School District No. 501, Bethel School District No. 403, Burlington-Edison School District No. 100, Everett School District No. 2, Federal Way School District No. 210, Issaquah School District No. 411, Lake Washington School District No. 414, Mercer Island School District No. 400, Northshore School District No. 417, Puyallup School District No. 3, Riverside School District No. 416 and Spokane School District No. 81.

OWENS, J.

¶ 1 This case concerns a challenge to the special education funding mechanism in Washington State. The School Districts' Alliance for Adequate Funding of Special Education (Alliance) argues that the Court of Appeals erred when it held that the State's procedures forfunding special education do not violate the Washington Constitution. The Alliance argues that the Court of Appeals (1) used the wrong standard and (2) improperly included the Basic Education Allotment (BEA) in its analysis when it determined whether special education is adequately funded. We affirm the Court of Appeals and hold that when the proper standard is applied, the existing funding mechanism for special education does not violate the Washington Constitution.

FACTS

¶ 2 The Washington Constitution provides that "[i]t 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." Const. art. IX, § 1. We have held that the State's paramount duty is to make ample provision for basic education through "dependable and regular tax source[s]." Seattle Sch. Dist. No. 1 v. State, 90 Wash.2d 476, 526, 585 P.2d 71 (1978). Special excess levies cannot be used to pay for basic education, though they can be used for " 'enrichment program [s].' " Id.

¶ 3 Special education is designed to ensure that all children with disabilities receive an appropriate education at public expense. RCW 28A.155.010. Special education in Washington is funded through three mechanisms. The first is the BEA, which the State provides to districts based on the average annual full-time equivalent enrollment of all students, both special education students and other students, in the district. RCW 28A.150.250; Laws of 2005, ch. 518, § 502(2). It is undisputed that "special education students are entitled to the full [BEA]." Laws of 2005, ch. 518, § 507(2)(a)(ii). Basic education, as defined by the legislature, is considered fully funded by the BEA. RCW 28A.150.250.

¶ 4 In addition, special education students receive excess funding from the State, "[t]o the extent a school district cannot provide an appropriate education for special educationstudents ... through the general apportionment allocation." Laws of 2005, ch. 518, § 507(1). This excess special education funding is provided "on an excess cost basis" and is equal to a "district's annual average full-time equivalent basic education enrollment multiplied by the funded enrollment percent ... multiplied by the district's average basic education allocation per full-time equivalent student multiplied by 0.9309." Laws of 2005, ch. 518, § 507(1), (5)(a)(ii). Essentially, the State provides each school district with additional special education funding that is 0.9309 times the BEA for each special education student.

¶ 5 The third means by which the State funds special education is through the "safety net," which awards additional monies to "districts with demonstrated needs for special education funding beyond the amounts provided" by the BEA and the excess special education funding. Laws of 2005, ch. 518, § 507(8). Presently, state safety net funds are available for students whose excess cost of special education services exceeds approximately $15,000, and federal safety net funds are also available for excess costs above approximately $21,000. When awarding safety net funding, the State considers "unmet needs for districts that can convincingly demonstrate that all legitimate expenditures for special education exceed all available revenues from state funding formulas." Laws of 2005, ch. 518, § 507(8)(a). Safety net awards cannot be based on "program costs attributable to district philosophy, service delivery choice, or accounting practices." Id.

¶ 6 The Alliance filed suit alleging that the State was not fully funding special education, forcing school districts to unconstitutionally use special excess levies to attain adequate funding. The Alliance presented evidence of underfunding from F-196 reports (annual financial documents that school districts submit to the State that list education revenues by source and accounting for expenditures by program) and Worksheet A (an application for safety net funding demonstrating financial need for additionalsafety net funding). In presenting this evidence, the Alliance omitted the funding that came from the BEA, arguing that school districts expend the entire BEA for special education students in the basic education classrooms. The trial court found that the Alliance had not proved that the State's special education funding formula was unconstitutional beyond a reasonable doubt. Specifically, the trial court ruled that a district must expend all of the BEA and all of the excess special education funding before it can contend that the legislature has underfunded special education. The Alliance appealed to the Court of Appeals, arguing, among other claims, that the trial court erred by (1) including the BEA as part of the total special education funding, (2) requiring the Alliance to prove that the funding mechanism was unconstitutionalbeyond a reasonable doubt, and (3) finding that the additional 0.9309 multiplier was rational. The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that the Alliance had not met its burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the special education funding mechanism violated the Washington Constitution. Sch. Dists.' Alliance for Adequate Funding of Special Educ. v. State, 149 Wash.App. 241, 266, 202 P.3d 990 (2009). The Alliance petitioned for review, which we granted. Sch. Dists.' Alliance for Adequate Funding of Special Educ. v. State, 166 Wash.2d 1024, 217 P.3d 337 (2009).

ISSUES

¶ 7 1. What is the correct standard for determining whether the State's special education mechanism violates the Washington Constitution?

¶ 8 2. Should the BEA be included when we determine if Washington adequately funds special education?

¶ 9 3. Does article VIII, section 4 of the Washington Constitution preclude applying the BEA to special education?

ANALYSIS

I. The Proper Standard Is "Beyond a Reasonable Doubt"

¶ 10 The Alliance argues that the Court of Appeals used the incorrect standard when it determined that the Alliance must prove the special education mechanism unconstitutional "beyond a reasonable doubt." Sch. Dists.' Alliance, 149 Wash.App. at 266, 202 P.3d 990. The Alliance asserts that since the State's paramount duty is to make ample provision for the education of children, a lower standard should apply to the petitioners. We disagree and affirm the long standing rule that a party challenging a statute's constitutionality must prove it unconstitutional "beyond a reasonable doubt."

¶ 11 In Washington, it is well established that statutes are presumed constitutional and that a statute's challenger has a heavy burden to overcome that presumption; the challenger must prove that the statute is unconstitutional beyond a reasonable doubt. Wash. Fed'n of State Employees v. State, 127 Wash.2d 544, 558, 901 P.2d 1028 (1995). This standard, that we will not declare a statute unconstitutional "unless its conflict with the constitution is plain beyond a reasonable doubt," stretches all the way back to our holding in Parrott & Co. v. Benson, 114 Wash. 117, 122, 194 P. 986 (1921). This standard has appeared throughout our jurisprudence. See State v. Maciolek, 101 Wash.2d 259, 263, 676 P.2d 996 (1984); see also State v. Aver, 109 Wash.2d 303, 306-07, 745 P.2d 479 (1987). We discussed the reasoning behind the standard in Island County v. State, 135 Wash.2d 141, 147, 955 P.2d 377 (1998):

[T]he "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard used when a statute is challenged as unconstitutional refers to the fact that one challenging a statute must, by argument and research,

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