By focusing attention on class size, K-12 boosters leave the impression that Washington has failed to fund adequately its public schools. Adequacy, of course, is entirely a subjective consideration. Even taking the lower and earlier number, that s quite a jump from fifteen years ago. Since then, it has remained fairly constant, dipping in 1995 and rising subsequently. Moreover, the increases granted in the last legislative session should raise the state s relative ranking for 1999-2000.
Education is labor-intensive.
About 80 percent of the money spent on K-12 education goes to compensate school employees, primarily teachers. Because of methodological differences, there is some variation in the reported rankings among the states. Third, the student-teacher ratio here of 20.2 is third highest in the nation, behind Utah and California. The US average is 17.1. Clearly, class size in Washington represents an allocation decision.