On his first day in office, Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal told his agency lawyers to dismiss his office from the lawsuit filed by his predecessor, Randy Dorn, against the state regarding using school levy money to provide employee compensation.

“This lawsuit was filed by my predecessor and others under the apparently false presumption that local school levy dollars cannot be used to provide employee compensation,” he said. “The court, however, has never held that school districts are prohibited from using local levies for employee compensation.”

Dorn filed the suit last year against seven school districts. He publicly stated the reason for the suit was to put pressure on the Legislature and Gov. Jay Inslee to make more concerted efforts to fully fund K-12 education as directed by the state Supreme Court. Reykdal, however, does not believe the suit is a productive way to accomplish such a goal.

After crediting Dorn for his efforts, Reykdal said in a statement Wednesday, “Under my leadership our state’s lead education agency will not sue the very districts we are committed to supporting.”

Reykdal said that this session, the Legislature will have to “clearly define in statute what basic education compensation is and is not. Just as local school districts can further lower class sizes beyond the state’s prototypical school funding model, districts can supplement compensation beyond the state’s contribution.”

He continued, “By clearly defining basic education compensation in statute, we can avoid future litigation that stems from a presumption that any and all compensation is basic education. We have a remarkable opportunity: We can make a historic commitment to our public schools by ensuring that the state adheres to its primary constitutional obligation. Just as important, we also can empower our local communities to recruit and retain educators and support staff as necessary to reflect their unique needs.”

Reykdal urged others participating in the suit to also withdraw support, saying, “This approach is an unnecessary cost for taxpayers. There are far more productive uses of our collective energy.”

He says those uses include working to create bipartisan solutions to meet the funding obligation; fulfilling the moral obligation to close persistent opportunity gaps for students and populations that have been historically and systemically denied equal opportunities in our schools.